Venezuela, in return, will provide China with 100,000 barrels of oil a day and other fuel oils. Daily exports have reached 160,000 barrels per day and it may reach as high as 300,000 b/d by the end of 2006. In order to expand its capacity to
ship more oil products to Asia, Venezuela’s national energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) announced in May 2006 that it had signed a $1.3 billion agreement with China State Shipbuilding Corporation and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation to purchase 18 oil tankers from China. Currently, Venezuela claims that 15 percent of its petroleum and related products are exported to China, and hopes the percentage will increase to 45 percent by 2012.