Volume 3, issue #25 - 27-10-1998

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China wants to expand oil deals with Venezuela

Sept. 10, 1998 China wants to follow its $ 360 mm purchase of drilling and exploitation rights for 2 oil fields in Venezuela with similar deals, Vice Premier Wu Bangguo said.
"Venezuela is the first country in Latin America to receive Chinese investments, and we are very satisfied ... we have come to strengthen this relationship and look for other areas of co-operation," Wu said.
The China National Petroleum Corporation bought the rights in 1997. The deal was part of Venezuela's plan to open its state-controlled oil industry to foreign and national companies.
China also is a major buyer of Venezuela's trademark Orimulsion, a tar-based boiler fuel.
"China is a country with an enormous population and a huge industrial capacity that demands more and more energy, and Venezuela is a country immensely rich in energy," said Miguel Burelli Rivas, Venezuela's foreign minister.