MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. Russian oil giant Rosneft has a serious potential for boosting Russian natural gas deliveries to China, the company’s CEO said in an interview with Rossiya-24 TV channel on Monday.

“There is a great potential for an increase in gas supplies,” Sechin said, adding that Russia also “needs to fight” for the oil market.

“If in 2013 we supplied 5% (of total oil supplies on Chinese market]), this year the figure already stands at 8%,” Sechin said.

Russia’s Gazprom signed a framework agreement on gas supplies to China via the “western” route at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing on Sunday. The “western” route will carry gas from fields in western Siberia.

Rosneft Vice President Vlada Rusakova said the company is ready to supply around 16 billion cubic meters of gas annually via the Power of Siberia pipeline by 2020.

Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom and China’s China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in late May signed a $400 billion contract on gas supplies to China via the “eastern route” over 30 years.

Russia is due to supply to China 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually via the Power of Siberia pipeline via the so-called “eastern route."