Venezuela seeks to double oil exports to China

Venezuela is looking to double its daily oil exports to China to 1 million barrels in 2015 from the current level of 500,000 barrels, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has said. Speaking at a conference in Beijing on bilateral cooperation, Ramirez said his country, which currently has a verified oil reserve of more than 200 billion barrels, is expected to be one of China's major petroleum suppliers.  
According to statistics from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in April 2012, Venezuela was the fourth-largest source of China's oil imports after Saudi Arabia, Angola and Russia. The country exports a daily average of 460,000 barrels of crude oil to China, accounting for 8.3 percent of the nation's total oil imports.
China's oil imports from Venezuela have been growing from 49,000 barrels a day in 2005 to the current level of around half a million, he said.
According to Ramirez, a joint venture set up by PetroChina and PDVSA, Venezuela's national oil company, is currently producing 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and he expected the amount to increase to 1.1 million barrels a day, mainly due to the development of Venezuela's Orinoco heavy-oil belt.

Venezuela oil refinery blast: 39 dead, scores injured

One of the largest in the world, Amuay refinery, was rocked by an explosion which killed about 39 people, including a 10-year-old boy. 17 of the 39 dead victims were National Guard troops stationed at a post next to the refinery. More than 80 people were also injured, nine of them seriously. About 77 people suffered light injuries and they have been released from the hospital. Government officials pledged to restart the refinery within two days and said the country has plenty of fuel supplies on hand to meet its domestic needs as well as its export commitments.

President Hugo Chavez declared three days of mourning in the country. Chavez said he ordered a "deep investigation" to determine what caused the explosion.

Officials said firefighters had controlled the flames at the refinery on the Paraguana Peninsula, where clouds of dark smoke were still billowing at noon.