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Sechin: China is seeking complete energy independence

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China could become an energy exporter, Sechin says

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Sechin draws attention to the U.S. public debt pile

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Sechin: OPEC+ could speed up oil outputhikes by a year

By Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya Astakhova

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 21 (Reuters) - Rosneft

CEO Igor Sechin, one of the most influential men in

Russia's energy sector, said on Saturday that China was seeking

complete energy independence and that in the foreseeable future

it could become a major energy exporter.

China's economic and military rise over the past 45 years is

considered to be one of the most significant geopolitical events

of recent times, alongside the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union

which ended the Cold War.

Sechin said that a massive increase in electricity

consumption was changing the entire landscape of the global

energy markets as populations soared in Africa and Asia and the

digital revolution triggered massive demand for power.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum,

Sechin said that China accounted for a third of global

investment in the energy sector, was ramping up renewable energy

capacity and was now one of the leaders in nuclear power.

"China, which has already ensured its energy security, is

confidently moving towards complete energy independence, forming

a stable energy balance based on its own resources," Sechin said

in a speech which referenced both Greek mythology and Niccolo

Machiavelli.

"There is no doubt, taking into account the persistence and

professionalism of our Chinese comrades, that in the foreseeable

future they will achieve the desired result, which will turn

China from an importer of energy resources into a major energy

exporter."

China is currently the world's largest importer of crude oil

and a major importer of natural gas. Russia is the world's

second largest oil exporter and holds the world's largest

reserves of natural gas.

Sechin, who worked alongside Vladimir Putin in the former

imperial capital of St Petersburg and later under the president

in the Kremlin, has run Rosneft since 2012.

Rosneft accounts for about 40% of Russian oil production,

14% of the country's gas production and 32% of the refinery

market. It is also the biggest Russian exporter of oil to China.

Sechin said that the decision by OPEC+ to speed up an output

increase now looked far-sighted and justified in the light of

the confrontation between Israel and Iran. He added that the

OPEC+ group could bring forward its output hikes by around a

year from the initial plan.

He drew attention to the vast U.S. debt pile, warning that

great powers from Habsburg Spain and pre-Revolutionary France to

the Ottoman Empire and Britain had declined due to high levels

of public debt.

The expansion of the Western military-industrial complex was

diverting enormous resources away from productive sectors and

unlikely to be a panacea for the problems in Europe or the

United States, Sechin said.

"There is always an asymmetrical answer," he added.

But his focus was on China's role, giving the example how

the growth in the sales of electric vehicles had resulted in

significant slowdown in motor fuel demand over the last year.

"If this trend continues - it may have a significant reverse

impact on the oil market balance," Sechin said.

He added than an important part of China's strategy to

reduce dependence on energy imports was the processing of coal

into synthetic fuels and chemical products.

About 40 million tons of coal is used to produce synthetic

fuels and more than 260 million tons for ammonia and methanol

production, he said.

(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)