Russia, the world's top crude exporter, said it had begun scheduled oil shipments to China via an East Siberian link on Saturday as the Kremlin cements ties with its energy-hungry neighbor. So far, Russia's 50,000-km oil pipeline network has been concentrated in West Siberia and run toward Europe. With the commissioning of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO), Moscow is carving out a large chunk of the world's second-largest energy consumers' market. "The shipments started at 0030 (4:30 p.m. EST on Friday). We plan to pump 1.3 million tonnes of oil in January," Igor Dyomin, a spokesman for Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, told Reuters.