VENEZUELA agreed with China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, to form a joint venture that will produce oil in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt to supply a new 400,000 barrel-a-day refinery they will build in China.
The venture between Petroleos de Venezuela SA and China National Petroleum Corp will pump oil from an area called Junin 4, where CNPC has quantified reserves, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said at a signing ceremony in Caracas late Friday.
China is securing long-term energy supply deals around the world to satisfy its growing needs, Bloomberg News said. Chinese oil consumption will rise 5.3 percent this year, the International Energy Agency said in January. Demand rose 6.6 percent in 2006, according to the most recent BP Statistical Review.
Zhou Jiping, CNPC vice president, and Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, who is also president of the state energy firm PDVSA, inked the deal.