Minister of Petroleum and President of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Eulogio Del Pino, highlighted on August 10, 2016, the importance of China-Venezuela bilateral relations to guarantee the growth and expansion of hydrocarbon business at Orinoco Oil Belt, the largest oil reservoir in the world.
During a visit paid to the processing module of dehydration/desalination plant of China-Venezuela oil joint venture Sinovensa, Del Pino said to the press that «In this underground lies the energy that China needs for the future. Currently, we are sending 600.000 barrels of crude oil per day to China, and we expect to increase this trade to more than 1 million barrels of crude oil per day within the next years».
The Minister of Petroleum said that “the perfect integration with China doesn’t involve just oil extraction, but also the assembling of drilling rigs, workers’ academic preparation, transport issues, as well as processing, commercialization and funding of hydrocarbon business.
There is a plan to build a new refinery in China, a project that is quite advanced at engineering phase.
Workers of Sinovensa will be in able to pursue post-graduate studies in China as a way to deepen their knowledge in oil matters.
Venezuela expect to build a large-scale oil terminal in Araya, Sucre state, where the crude oil will be loaded in order to be shipped to China.
«China is represented by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Venezuela is represented by PDVSA. 170.000 barrels of crude oil are produced through Sinovensa, but also we have four Very Large Crude Carriers in a joint property to ship these oil to China», Del Pino emphasized.
President of PDVSA stressed the importance of Industria Chino Venezolana de Taladros (ICVT) as an example of how fruitful has been this bilateral relationship for Venezuelan oil industry: «18 drilling rigs has been assembled as a result, which it enhances our technological sovereignty », Del Pino pointed out.
Thus, Minister Del Pino said that «having drilling rigs of our own has helped us to cope this low oil prices cycle; in fact, 80% of drilling rigs operating at Orinoco Oil Belt is property of PDVSA, and they have been assembled in China by four suppliers. Each of them has brought technology transfer and specialist staff to support us and enhance ICVT».
An additional provision of $5 billion granted by China Development Bank (CDB) was approved for boosting other joint ventures as Petrourica and Petrozumano.
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will provide steam injection for enhanced oil recovery technology at Orinoco Oil Belt.
