(reuters) -- PetroChina , Asia's largest oil and gas producer, will not buy extra Russian crude oil via the Russia-China pipeline, the company chief said on Monday, after the two sides recently resolved a price dispute.
Jiang Jiemin, chairman of PetroChina, also said China and Russia still differed on prices in protracted gas supply talks, under which Russia aimed to eventually sell up to 68 billion cubic metres of gas per year to China under a 30-year deal.
Russia's Rosneft last month made a small price concession to China, the single largest buyer of oil from its new eastern fields, to resolve a long-running dispute, raising hope that China could bargain for more Russian crude via the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline.
Russia has said China has been underpaying for the 300,000 bpd Russian supples, while China said Russia levies excessive transit fees. "Currently, we don't have a plan to raise the import volume," Jiang said. Asked if PetroChina would in the future raise imports from the current agreed 300,000 bpd level, he said: "We have not yet discussed the issue."
PetroChina, China's second-largest state oil refiner next to Sinopec Corp , suffered more than 50 billion yuan (USD8 billion) losses at its refining department last year and that loss was "still expanding", Jiang told reporters on the sidelines of China's annual parliament session.
MRC