The argument is centered around China and Japan's battle for a Russian oil pipeline contract from Siberia. The two most important economies in Asia are desperate to secure a link to the mighty Angarsk oil fields as Japan has almost no supply of its own and China's economic boom has fast outstripped what once were adequate domestic supplies.

Both countries are also trying to limit their dependence on oil from distant, politically volatile regions like the Middle East, and the little-tapped energy riches of the vast, Russian Far East are an attractive alternative.

However, getting the oil to market will require billions of dollars to be spent on extensive pipelines, with only one country able to enjoy the benefits.

China is fighting to ensure a supply for its northeastern industrial heartland after almost a decade of negotiations with the Russians while the Japanese are planning a new deep-water oil terminal off the Krylova Cape, just one day's tanker cruise from Japan.

The cheaper and shorter China pipeline would be far more profitable for the Russians as it only needs to transport 30 million tons of oil a year to be economic, while the longer Japan option would need to carry at least 50 million tons to be viable, a capacity that does not exist currently.

The importance of the pipeline cannot be underestimated as China is on track to overtake Japan next year as the world's second-largest oil consumer, and to catch the leader, the US, sometime around 2030, by quintupling its current demand.

However, energy shortages already plague the country, with 21 provinces experiencing rationing and blackouts so far this fall and winter, twice as many as last year.

In response to the long term Chinese lobbying Japan is offering to put up US$5 billion for pipeline construction and another US$2 billion for oil field development, while holding out the prospect that a pipeline to the Sea of Japan could handle oil exports to America, too.

One way or the other someone is not going to be happy.