Venezuela to construct oil refineries in China

Venezuela will construct three oil refineries in China, the state-run Venezuelan oil company PDVSA said, quoting Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez. “Our goal is to give an impetus to Venezuela’s energy cooperation with Asian countries, which is in line with President Hugo Chavez’s policies aimed at building a multipolar world and diversifying the oil market,” Ramirez was quoted as saying. On Friday, Ramirez attended a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction of an oil refinery in China’s southern Guangdong province. The facility is scheduled to be launched in 2015. The project is estimated at $8.3 billion. The oil refineries will be jointly owned by Venezuela and China, the PDVSA said. They are expected to refine up to 800,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude a day. Venezuela’s currently supplies about 600,000 barrels of oil per day to China. In late February, the two countries signed $10 billion worth of contracts in various spheres, including energy, agriculture, construction and industry.