MOSCOW, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Igor Sechin, the powerful head of energy giant Rosneft, said on Thursday that Russian pipeline oil exports to China are safe as they avoid the troubled routes of the Middle East which major powers fear is on the brink of a regional war.
"In the context of the events currently taking place in the Middle East, it is important to note the safety of Russian oil supplies to China," Sechin told a Sino-Russian energy business forum in China, Interfax news agency reported.
Israel, which has become a major gas exporter in recent years, has shut down several major energy sites since Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, sparking a wider conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Russia is forging close political and business ties with China amid a wider fallout with the West over a conflict in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin met Chinese leader and "dear friend" Xi Jinping this week.
Sechin also said that Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the main supplier of oil to China, delivering 75 million tonnes of oil so far this year, up 25% from last year's volumes.
Russian oil exports to China, the world's second-largest consumer of oil after the United States, increased to almost 2 million barrels per day this year.
"This oil is supplied via the ESPO oil pipeline, which in the current situation seems to us to be a much more reliable transportation channel compared to tanker transportation through the Strait of Hormuz or the Suez Canal due to the growing geopolitical instability of these regions," Sechin said.
He also said that it was important to increase the share of the rouble and yuan both in mutual payments between Russia and China and in settlements with third parties.
"Of course, this requires the support of the Bank of Russia and the People's Bank of China, closer interbank cooperation and its practical focus on the implementation of specific projects," hew said according to Interfax. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
