China and Russia to jointly survey oil, gas in border areas - Xinhua
China and Russia have reached an agreement to jointly survey oil and natural gas resources in their border areas, Xinhua news agency reported, citing an unnamed government official from the northeast Chinese province of Heilongjiang.
The news agency said the cooperation, the first of its kind between the two countries, is another step following an oil supply deal signed in May that will pump up to 30 mln tons of Russian crude to China once it is fully operational.
According to the agreement signed by relevant departments of Heilongjiang province and the Primorskiy Kray of Russia, scientists from both sides will make a separate survey within their territories some 200 km away from the border in light of a common research standard.
The geological survey will be mainly done in three trans-border basins, namely the Muhe-Ushumun, the Sunwu-Zeysko Bureinskaya and the Sanjiang-Amur, as a letter of cooperation signed last year reveals.
Scientists will not only make clear the geological features of the basins but also establish uniform criteria for the stratum partition and analyze the prospect of the oil and gas fields.
The news agency said Sorokin, director with the Amur Science Center of Far East Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, said a preliminary geological survey has detected an oil and gas field with a maximum reserve of 80 mln tons of crude.
Independent surveys conducted in the area earlier by Chinese petroleum enterprises also found possible reserves of gas and oil.
Large scale exploitation has been carried out since the 1970s in the Songhuajiang-Liaohe Basin of Heilongjiang where more than 1.7 bln tons of crude oil was found as of the end of last year.
About 40 pct of China's total oil reserves are being depleted, and petroleum enterprises have doubled efforts to find new underground oil and gas fields.
China became a net oil importer in 1993 and the largest oil consumer after the US and Japan in 1996.
中俄合作勘探两国边界石油天然气资源
新华社引述黑龙江省政府官员称，中俄双方已经达成协议，将合作勘探两国边境间的石油天然气资源。
新华社称，这次是两国之间首次在该领域合作。标志着继俄罗斯5月份签署每年向中国输送不超过3,000万吨原油协议后的又一次合作。
根据黑龙江省政府有关部门与俄罗斯Primorskiy Kray政府签定的协议，双方的科学家将在各自边境线200公里外的领土上勘探石油天然气。
双方去年达成的合作意向书披露，戡察将会在三个边界盆地中进行，包括 "Muhe-Ushumun"、"Sunwu-Zeysko Bureinskaya"、 和"Sanjiang-Amur"盆地。
科学家不仅将研究盆地的地理特性，而且还会建立一个统一的地层分区标准, 以分析油气田的前景。
新华社引述俄罗斯科学院远东协会穆尔河科学中心主任Sorokin的话称，该所初步探明上述油气田的原油储量约为8,000万吨。
中国的石油公司在中国边境自主勘探结果表明，该地区可能拥有油汽储量。
中国政府早在20世纪70年代就在黑龙江省松花江－辽河盆地开始勘探石油，截止去年年底，已开采原油17亿多吨。
中国40％的石油储量已耗尽，石油公司正在加倍努力寻找新的地下油气田。
中国于1993成为石油净进口国，自1996年开始成为继美国及日本之后世界第三大石油消费国。
