BEIJING (AFP) - Beijing urged Moscow to pressure embattled oil giant Yukos to honour its commitments to provide China with oil after the company said it was slashing supplies.
"No doubt, we hope the (Russian) company can honour its agreement with the Chinese company and will deliver its promise to export the oil," said foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan.
"We hope Russian government authorities can also urge the company to honour the contract."
Yukos is Russia`s sole direct supplier to the Chinese market and it announced Monday a suspension of all deliveries to China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).
The embattled company, which had been due to supply a million tonnes of oil to CNPC by the end of the year, will cut all pipeline and rail deliveries by September 28.
It blamed the move on its inability to finance transport and other costs as a result of Russian government demands for payment of back taxes, with the news helping spark a sharp rise in oil prices on the global market.
Kong said China and Russia had consensus to expand cooperation in the energy sector, especially in the oil sector, and called on the government in Moscow to make sure this happened.
"One of the most important points was to expand the size of Russia`s exports to China through railway," said Kong.
"Therefore, along this line of thoughts, we believe the Russian government would urge the relevant company to make efforts to contribute towards the future of the the bilateral cooperation in the energy sector."
Despite Yukos cutting supplies to CNPC, it would continue deliveries to another Chinese oil company, Sinopec, which is to receive about 750,000 tonnes by the end of the year.
CNPC, a major supplier of China`s crude oil, played down the seriousness of the move.
"The Yukos supply of our crude oil only accounts for three percent of the oil we refine," a CNPC official told AFP.
"It won`t cause a serious problem. Our company needs only to readjust its production a little bit."
China is the world`s second largest oil consumer after the United States and has seen imports soar as flagging domestic production has failed to keep up with booming economic growth and demand for gasoline in the auto market.
Domestic crude oil output has been rising slowly this year, with production in the first seven months up just 2.2 percent year-on-year to 100.54 million tonnes.
A net importer of petroleum products since 1993 and of crude oil since 1996, the country is reliant on overseas producers for one third of its supplies and in turn accounts for about seven percent of world oil demand.
Chinese crude oil reserves have increased over the past two years to reach 285 million barrels, or the equivalent of 47 days consumption, according to an expert at Shenyin and Wanguo Securities quoted by the Beijing Daily Messenger newspaper.
In a bid to ensure better energy cooperation with Russia, Premier Wen Jiabao and a high powered delegation of ministers left Tuesday for Moscow where officials said they would seek guarantees for the delivery of Russian oil given the crisis at Yukos.