Venezuela and China boost ties with refinery deal

In a ceremony held on May 9, Venezuelas state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), and Chinas largest oil company, PetroChina, agreed to build a 400,000 barrel per day refinery in South China’s Guangdong Province. The joint-venture refinery, Venezuela’s first such investment in China, will advance Chavez’s goal of shipping to China 1 million barrels per day of oil by around 2011, or 13% of current Chinese oil demand. Venezuela ships nearly 300,000 barrels per day of oil and fuel to China, around which 80,000 barrels are crude oil. PetroChina and PDVSA will supply the Guangdong refinery with oil produced from the Junin 4 block of the vast Orinoco heavy crude belt, which holds some of the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East. (May 12, 2008)