Putin's China energy deals may turn out to be paper tigers as growth slows

Moscow

VLADIMIR Putin's long-heralded visit to Beijing last week yielded five framework energy deals that bolster Russian hopes of strengthening ties with China as relations sour with the US and Europe. Yet if history is any guide, most of the accords won't bear fruit.

"Heads of agreements are multiplying at a furious pace," Sergei Tsyplakov, head of the Sberbank OJSC's office in China, said by e-mail before the signing ceremonies in Beijing. "Practice shows that out of 10 agreements, we get one or at most two contracts." While Russia signed a US$400 billion gas-supply contract with China in May 2014, after almost a decade of talks, and a US$270 billion oil deal in 2013, the agreements initialled this week in Beijing by OAO Rosneft, Gazprom PJSC and Novatek OJSC are largely non-binding.