Russia's State Duma approves Russia-China oil co-op agreement

MOSCOW, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, approved on Friday a Russia-China intergovernmental agreement on oil cooperation, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The agreement, which envisions long-term Russian oil supplies to China, was signed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan in April.

A package of oil cooperation deals on pipeline construction, oil trade and loans that Russia and China inked in February took effect after the signing of the intergovernmental pact.

Under the agreement, China and Russia will jointly build and operate the pipeline from Russia's Siberian city of Skovorodino to China's northeastern city of Daqing as its terminal via China's border city of Mohe.

The pipeline, with an annual capacity of 15 million tons of crude to China within 20 years, is expected to go into operation in October 2010.