During the meeting, Wang pledged to boost energy cooperation between the two sides, the report said. It was the second meeting between Sechin and Wang in three days.
In Beijing, Sechin also met the heads of three major Chinese oil companies - Sinopec Group, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) - and discussed possible joint upstream projects offshore on the Russian shelf, reports said.
Lin Boqiang, director of the Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University in China, said that Russia is seeking to expand beyond its major market, Europe, which is sluggish due to the prolonged debt crisis, according to the Global Times, an affiliate of the People's Daily.
He called China "the most promising market for Russia."
Lin was quoted as saying that "cooperation with Russia could also help China diversify its oil imports and reduce its reliance on oil supplies from the Middle East, thus improving the country's energy security."
A Sinopec spokesperson confirmed to the Global Times that Rosneft held working-level meetings with the senior management of Sinopec on Feb. 18, but said he has no knowledge of whether the two companies discussed possible cooperation offshore on Russia's shelf. CNPC and CNOOC also declined to confirm the possible Russian-shelf cooperation with Rosneft, the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, Reuters said last week that Rosneft was seeking loans of up to $30 billion from CNPC in exchange for doubling oil supplies to China.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com