UDM shows China is backing Russian energy industry

The world's largest refiner, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, and Russia's Rosneft Oil said they will deepen cooperation to stengthen their joint venture Udmurtia Petroleum Corp.

The joint venture, simply known as UDM, was bought out by the two oil and gas giants in August 2006. Rosneft took a 51 percent stake in UDM and Sinopec 49 percent.

UDM is in Udmurtia, a Denmark-sized republic within the Volga Federal District in western Russia.