Pdvsa ships at least 25% of oil exports to China

Venezuela and Pdvsa's commitments to China are reinforced everyday.

Financing given to Caracas by Beijing, in exchange for oil and oil byproducts, has resulted in a remarkable growth of the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa)'s exports to China.

Last week, Minister of Petroleum and Mining and President of Pdvsa Rafael Ramírez stated during a tour of several Asian countries that Venezuela's oil shipments to China are over 600,000 bpd. This accounts for at least 25% of Venezuelan oil exports. According to the state-run oil company, ending last year, oil exports totaled 2.46 million bpd.

Note that the Venezuelan volume highlighted by Minister Ramírez on account of oil shipments to China differ from the numbers included in Pdvsa's 2011 Management Report. In the annual report, it is underlined that at the end of 2011, Venezuelan exports to China stood at 319,000 barrels per day (bpd), virtually half of what was reported by the Venezuelan oil giant last week.

Based on the report, sales to China soared to 79% last year, compared to 178,000 bpd in 2010.

In spite of increasing Venezuelan oil exports to China - approximately 1.16 million bpd of crude oil and byproducts purchases - the United States is still the first Venezuelan oil client.

Owned barrels

In February, the Venezuelan government amended the protocol of the agreement on the Chinese-Venezuelan Fund to set minimal quotas for the Venezuelan oil shipments to the Asian country.

The document, submitted for the approval of the National Assembly, underlines that in order to pay back the three-year loans agreed with the Asian country, crude oil shipments cannot fall behind 230,000 bpd.

Pdvsa, on behalf of the Bank for Economic and Social Development (Bandes) and Venezuela, dealt in 2011 with shipments of 415,000 bpd of crude oil and byproducts, destined for payment of the Heavy Fund II (a Chinese USD 4 billion loan), and the fulfillment of Large Volume Phase II (another Chinese USD 10 billion loan).

Translated by Karen Daza