MOSCOW (AFP) - The Russian gas behemoth Gazprom will provide China with at least 38 billion cu m of natural gas per year from 2018, company chairman Alexei Miller said on Friday, March 22.

Gazprom signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese state-owned CNPC (China National Petroleum Corporation) that should lead to the finalisation by the end of 2013 of a 30-year delivery contract.

"The annual volume of Russian gas to be delivered to China was set at 38 billion cubic metres, with the possibility of taking it up to 60 billion," Russian news agencies quoted Gazprom chairman Miller as saying.

In a separate statement, Russian oil giant Rosneft said it had signed an agreement with CNPC covering cooperation in oil-rich Russian Arctic regions.

China's new leader Xi Jinping, on his first foreign trip as president, held talks with Russian host Vladimir Putin on Friday that focused on a raft of energy and investment accords.