Russ Oil-Gas

BEIJING, March 22 (RIA Novosti, Alexei Yefimov) - State-owned oil major Rosneft is planning to open a network of gas stations in China by the end of 2007, the company's president said Wednesday. "Our dream is to enter China's retail market for oil products," Sergei Bogdanchikov told RIA Novosti. He said Rosneft was planning to move from crude exports to sales of oil products, high-quality gasoline, diesel fuel and oil. He said Rosneft had signed an agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation Tuesday on establishing a joint venture this year. Bogdanchikov said Rosneft would account for 73% of oil supplies, or 12.7 million metric tons, to China in 2006. "Overall, Rosneft accounts for 26% of all supplies of Russian goods and services to China," he added. Speaking about the financing of Rosneft projects, Bogdanchikov said China National Development Bank was the company's main partner in the country. "We agreed that the bank would finance not only joint projects with Chinese companies, but also Rosneft's separate projects," he said.