PRESIDENT Hu Jintao and visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed agreements yesterday to jointly develop Venezuela's vast oil resources and cooperate on a host of other energy and trade projects.
Chavez told reporters after the signing ceremony that his country hopes to increase oil exports to China to 500,000 barrels a day over the next few years, more than triple the present supply.
Among the deals concluded in Beijing, the China National Petroleum Corp and the PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan energy company, agreed to jointly develop Venezuelan oil fields, according to China's Foreign Ministry.
Other agreements on trade, energy, infrastructure construction and tourism were also signed after the talks between Hu and Chavez.
"I'm very satisfied with the cooperation with China in the oil and petrochemical fields," Chavez told reporters.
Noting that this year marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of a Sino-Venezuelan strategic partnership, Hu also offered a broad outline for deepening China's relationship with the world's No. 5 oil exporting country.
He said China intends to work with Venezuela to expand exchanges and cooperation between governments, legislatures and political parties.
China will also join Venezuela in exploring cooperation in railway construction, shipbuilding, oil machinery manufacturing and high technology.
Hu pledged that China would encourage its enterprises to invest in Venezuela and welcome Venezuelan businesses to China.
Hu also promised to enhance exchanges in culture, education, science, technology, the news media and tourism.
And he pledged to strengthen cooperation in international and regional organizations such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the Organization of American States.
The Chinese president said Sino-Venezuelan relations have grown comprehensively and deepened with increasing political trust and sound cooperation in international and regional affairs.
Chavez said the development of bilateral relations has entered a new stage as the two countries have strengthened political mutual trust, economic and trade cooperation, cultural exchanges and people-to-people friendship.
Chavez arrived in Beijing as Hu's guest on Tuesday night, starting a six-day state visit to China.
He will also visit the eastern province of Shandong.
Chavez previously visited China in October 1999, May 2001 and December 2004.
source: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/08/25/290134/China_signs_major_oil_pact_with_Venezuela.htm 24aug2006
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, on a visit to Beijing, has said he hopes to massively increase the amount of oil his country sells to China. The left-wing Chavez, who is a strong critic of Washington, is looking to reduce Venezuela's reliance on sales to the United States. Venezuela currently ships 1.5 million barrels of oil a day to the US and about 150,000 barrels a day to China. Chavez said by 2009, they will be supplying China with half a million barrels a day and in the decade after that it will be one million barrels.
Industry analysts said it does not make economic sense to transport oil all the way from South America to China, but there are geopolitical considerations as Chavez wants to expand his buyer base and China is keen to diversify its purchases away from the Middle East. Venezuela has announced plans to buy 18 Chinese-made oil tankers and 24 oil drilling rigs. There is also to be a joint venture between the two countries to explore for oil in Venezuela.
**EuroNews is Europe’s news channel covering world news from a European perspective in a choice of seven languages. EuroNews broadcasts simultaneously in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Launched on 1st January 1993, as the first multilingual pan-European news channel, EuroNews has rapidly established itself as Europe’s leading television news channel.
source: http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_eco&article=376400&lng=1 24aug2006
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has signed a series of trade agreements with China and pledged to more than triple oil exports to the energy-hungry country within five years. Mr. Chavez, who is visiting China, also obtained his hosts' support for Venezuela's U.N. Security Council bid.
Mr. Chavez on Thursday signed eight trade deals with China, including an agreement to jointly exploit Venezuela's vast oil reserves.
Mr. Chavez said Thursday he wants oil exports to China to double to 300,000 barrels a day by next year and reach 500,000 barrels per day within five years.
Venezuela sells most of its oil to the United States, but Chavez, an outspoken critic of Washington, has been courting alternative markets.
Michael Pettis is a financial analyst based at Beijing University. He says Chavez may not be able to loosen trade ties with the U.S. in favor of China.
"This seems more like posturing by Chavez than anything else," he said. "It's hard to imagine that it is economically efficient to divert a huge amount of oil away from its traditional markets towards China. There's really no reason to put in the transportation costs and the costs of diverting the supply of oil."
Mr. Chavez also met with Chinese President Hu Jintao Thursday. He told reporters that the Chinese leader had pledged support for Venezuela's bid to join the U.N. Security Council. Mr. Chavez welcomed China's support.
The United States opposes Venezuela's bid.
Mr. Chavez has said developing relations with countries like China are part of efforts to create a multi-polar world to counter U.S. influence.
However, financial analyst Pettis says China is not interested in the fiery populist politics of the left-leaning Latin American leader and is really interested in diversifying its sources of foreign oil to fuel its booming economy.
"Particularly, since much of Chinese presence in the oil industry tends to be very low quality, or countries with unstable governments," he added. "So, a country like Venezuela is very interesting because it's got high quality large amounts of oil and its basically been a fairly stable producer of oil over the long term."
Other deals under consideration during Mr. Chavez's visit to China, are purchases of Chinese made oil tankers and oil drills.
Mr. Chavez arrived Tuesday on is on a six-day trip, his fourth to China since 1999.
* * The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 100 million people.
source: http://voanews.com/english/2006-08-24-voa33.cfm 24aug2006
Crude-oil futures rose to more than $72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as worries about Iran lingered and reports of storm activity in the Caribbean raised the prospect that hurricanes could again crimp oil supplies from the Gulf of Mexico. Here is Thursday's roundup of oil-related news:
* * * CHINA, VENEZUELA GROW CLOSER: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said China has thrown its support behind his nation's bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council as the two countries signed deals to develop Venezuela's vast oil resources. Chinese President Hu Jintao warmly welcomed Mr. Chavez, who has proposed an ambitious plan for his country -- the world's No. 5 oil exporter -- to almost quadruple sales to fuel-hungry China to one million barrels per day in the next decade.
* * * Wednesday's Roundup:
BP'S CORROSION WARNING: Federal investigators probing BP's operations in Alaska are reviewing two-year-old documents from an engineering firm that included warnings of accelerated corrosion in its pipeline network, an indicator of the same type of conditions that forced the partial shutdown of the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field this month.
MURKOWSKI FALLS: Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski's reelection campaign lived by the pipeline and died, at least in part, by the pipeline. Mr. Murkowski ran on a promise to build a $25 billion natural-gas pipeline to Canada, but placed last in a three-way primary race last night. Though he had other political woes weighing him down, his reelection bid was also hurt by BP's pipeline shutdown in Prudhoe Bay. Opponents accused him of not doing more to force BP to properly maintain its facilities.
* * * Tuesday's Roundup:
ILLINOIS ENERGY PLAN: A $1.2 billion energy plan by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich calls for building up to 20 corn-ethanol plants, five soy biodiesel plants and four facilities to turn corn husks and other plant waste into ethanol. The plan, scheduled to be unveiled a week from now, aims to cut the state's dependence on foreign oil and make biofuels meet half the state's gasoline needs by 2017. Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, is running for reelection. A spokesman for his opponent, state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, accused Mr. Blagojevich of pulling a late-election stunt and implied he was responsible for the state's high gas prices.
* * * Monday's Roundup:
BP ACCUSED: The Financial Times reported that criminal investigators at the Environmental Protection Agency were probing allegations (subscription to FT.com required) by BP workers that the company misled regulators about the condition of its pipelines in the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska, even as it cut back on spending on pipeline maintenance. BP denied it had manipulated data and said it was cooperating with investigations by the EPA and the Department of Transportation.
NIGERIAN CRACKDOWN: The Nigerian army arrested about 60 people on the third day of a crackdown on militants in Nigeria's volatile oil region. All told so far, about 160 people have been arrested, according to the army. Militants have launched a wave of kidnappings and sabotage in recent months, cutting Nigeria's oil production by about 20%.
* * * Friday's Roundup:
PUMPING AT PRUDHOE: Crude-oil output at BP's giant Prudhoe Bay facility in Alaska has jumped to more than 200,000 barrels a day, the company said. Last week, BP had indicated it would need to shut down 400,000 barrels a day to repair pipeline, news that sent crude prices up by more than $2 a barrel. Analysts have said it will take months, however, to get the facility back to its full capacity.
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