Total, China in talks on Venezuela refining

China, Venezuela and France’s Total SA are in advanced negotiations on a multi-billion-dollar deal to produce oil in Venezuela for use in China. Senior officials from state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA), China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and Total are to meet in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, in May to discuss a 20-year pact to send 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Venezuelan oil to China, possibly starting in 2013, with volumes rising subsequently. The plan reportedly involves CNPC and Total bidding for one of the oil blocks in the Orinoco basin in Carabobo state that Venezuela has offered to foreign investors. The oil would be shipped to China to be processed in a joint venture CNPC-PdVSA refinery to be built in Guangdong before being sold in the local market. The deal is expecting to be finalized in late 2009. (April 15, 2009)