RPT-FACTBOX-Trade, energy ties between China and Russia

(Repeats item that originally moved on Nov. 19)

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao heads to Russia on Monday as he seeks to nail down a pricing agreement for gas supplies to China and expand trade cooperation. [ID:nTOE6AH01I].

Wen's visit underscores the increasingly close relationship between two of the world's biggest emerging economies -- a marked shift from the decades of distrust because of disputes over Communist ideology.

Wen will also go to Tajikistan for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) -- a Central Asian regional group comprising Russia, China and four ex-Soviet Central Asian states.

Here are some facts about energy and trade ties between Russia and China:

ENERGY

-- Russia wants to diversify more of its energy exports away from Europe, its traditional market, and into fast-growing China, while China, the world's largest oil consumer, wants to boost its energy security by looking for new sources of fuel.

-- Russia has begun test-pumping about 600,000 tonnes of oil along a new East Siberian-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline that is set to start bringing 300,000 barrels per day to China in January next year.

-- China's oil imports from Russia could double if the pipeline is used to capacity and the volume now exported by rail and sea continues.

-- Russia has been eager for more Chinese cash to fuel growth. China agreed in October to lend Russia $6 billion for the development of coal deposits. It also agreed in 2009 to lend $10 billion to Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and another $15 billion to state-controlled oil giant Rosneft in exchange for the 300,000 bpd of Russian oil to be transported through the pipeline over 20 years. [ID:nLDE6941XP].

-- China and Russia in September laid a cornerstone of a 13 million-tonne/year (260,000 bpd) joint refinery in Tianjin city for which Russia pledged to supply 70 percent of crude oil needs.

-- Russia, which has built a nuclear reactor in China, has agreed to expand nuclear power cooperation in seven areas with China, including building floating nuclear power plants, exploring uranium mines, eliminating old plants and developing markets abroad. [ID:nTOE68103W]

-- But their close energy ties have been clouded by a dispute about pricing for gas, which have dragged on for years, and that Chinese officials say they hope to resolve during Wen's visit.

-- Russia's gas monopoly, Gazprom , said in 2006 it would build two major pipelines to China but the projects have been delayed because of wrangling over pricing.

ECONOMIC TIES AND BILATERAL TRADE

-- Russia has been pushing for a greater role for the rouble in global financial markets and, eventually, as some form of reserve currency. China is also seeking a greater international role for its still tightly controlled yuan .

-- Russia will start trading the yuan against the rouble next month as they seek to simplify settlements for energy sales by avoiding use of the U.S. dollar. [ID:nLDE6AH1DG].

-- Russia is China's 13th-largest trade partner, ranking behind the Netherlands and Singapore, even though two-way trade rose 43.4 percent to $45.1 billion in the first 10 months of this year.

-- The Kremlin expects the volume this year to return to the $55.9 billion recorded in 2008, before the economic crisis.

-- China is Russia's second-largest trading partner after the European Union. Bilateral trade with China rose to $41.8 billion in the first nine months of 2010 compared with $26.7 billion a year ago, according to the Russian Federal Customs Service data.

-- But China accounts for just 9.5 percent of Russia's foreign trade, while the European Union claims 49.5 percent. (Writing by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Ben Blanchard)