HOUSTON -- Energy cooperation between China and Russia is in line with China's interests, and China will also continue to purchase liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States to meet its increasing demand, a Houston-based analyst said Tuesday.

Jonathan Z, COO of the consulting company The Oil World, told Xinhua that Yamal LNG cargoes indicate the intimate relationship between China and Russia, which well matches China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Meanwhile, he believed China would also purchase considerable LNG from the United States for the rest of the year to meet its increasing fuel demand.

Located in Sabetta at the northeast corner of the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, Yamal LNG is a liquefied natural gas plant with near operational capacity in 2017.

The first LNG shipment is scheduled to sail to China as an expression of gratitude for China's big support in building the largest Arctic LNG plant -- the Russian Yamal LNG project. Though the accurate date has not been released, the first recipient of this fuel tanker will be China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).

Mark Gyetvay, deputy CEO of the Moscow-based Novatek company, the main shareholder of the Yamal LNG project, indicated last week that the first cargo to China marks a milestone of the whole Yamal project.

Novatek is Russia's largest independent natural gas producer, and the seventh largest publicly traded company globally by natural gas production volume.

"CNPC, as our client to receive the first LNG tanker, demonstrates not only the successful cooperation with our Chinese business partners, but also Asian-Pacific region as a vital LNG consuming market," Gyetvay said.