Beijing signed a deal with Moscow yesterday to lend $25 billion to two Russian oil firms, which in turn will sell 15 million tons of crude oil a year to China for the next 20 years.

The agreement will ensure the long-awaited extension of Russia's Siberia-Pacific coast pipeline to China, too. The pipeline project, agreed on late last year, will see the extension of the pipeline from the Siberian city of Skovorodino, 70 km north of the Sino-Russian border, to China.

China will lend $15 billion to Russia's state-owned oil firm Rosneft and $10 billion to pipeline monopoly Transneft. China Development Bank (CDB) provided the credit for the deal, according to the Associated Press (AP).