Venezuela promises China expanded access to oil and gas
BEIJING (AP) - President Hugo Chavez said Friday that Venezuela will give Beijing greater access to its oil reserves to reduce his country's dependence on sales to the United States.
Chavez said agreements signed Thursday on the first day of his visit to China will give Chinese oil companies access to 15 oil-producing areas in Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter.
China is eager to secure new sources of energy for its economy, which is struggling with power shortages.
Venezuela wants to find new customers to reduce reliance on the United States, its No. 1 market but also a critic of Chavez's six-year-old government.
"We have been producing and exporting oil for more than 100 years but they have been years of dependence on the United States,'' Chavez said at a meeting of Venezuelan and Chinese entrepreneurs.
"Now we are free and we make our resources available to the great country of China.''
Venezuela sells 60 percent of its crude oil exports to the United States.
Venezuela is offering to sell China fuel oil "to generate more electricity because we understand that some areas of China are short of electricity,'' Chavez said.
Chavez later told Venezuela's state-run radio station that his country was offering to supply China with 120,000 barrels of fuel oil a month.
Beijing and Caracas also are working on other proposals for closer energy collaboration, the Venezuelan president said.
They cover crude oil, gas, petrochemical industries and increasing Venezuelan oil sales to China, Chavez said during a speech Friday at Peking University in the Chinese capital.
Venezuela has also agreed to buy a satellite from China, Venezuelan Information Minister Andres Izarra told the South American country's state news agency Venpres later Friday.
Izarra said the satellite would be in orbit in a year, but didn't give other details.
Chavez's visit to Beijing is part of a campaign to build up trade and political ties with new diplomatic partners that has taken him to Russia, Africa and the Middle East.
On Friday, Chavez met with Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice President Zeng Qinghong. Details weren't immediately released.
The Venezuelan president met earlier with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao.
The Venezuelan leader planned to leave Beijing on Saturday to visit the eastern Chinese province of Shandong.
In return for access to oil, China is promising Venezuela technical and economic aid to boost agricultural output and to start a state-run telecommunications company.
Chinese oil companies have been invited to explore for oil off Venezuela's northern coast and to set up oil refineries along its Orinoco River.
The deals signed in Beijing give Chinese firms the right to produce gas in Venezuela as well.
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