September 9, 2004
Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister: may ship oil across Pacific to China
(Dow Jones) - "Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jesús Arnaldo Pérez said that China, Venezuela and Colombia are trying to resolve technological and legal obstacles to shipping crude oil across the Pacific Ocean.

Venezuela signed a contract in July with its South American neighbor to build a crude oil pipeline connecting its oil fields with a port on Colombia's Pacific coast. That cross-border pipeline would allow direct crude oil shipments to China, bypassing the Panama Strait and cutting delivery times.

'The pipeline is built specifically for transporting Venezuela crude oil to China and will greatly facilitate the oil transportation from Venezuela to China,' Pérez told a news conference.

'The pipeline will lay a solid foundation for the two countries to expand the cooperation in the energy sector in the future,' he said.

China National Petroleum Corp. officials also met earlier with Pérez to discuss expanding energy cooperation between the two countries, a Venezuelan official said. (…) Pérez said foreign relations ties with China are among Venezuela's top priorities and cooperation in energy sectors between the two countries carries great importance.

A joint Venezuela-China commission will meet in October or November to explore further areas of potential cooperation such as natural gas, repairing crude oil carriers and possible exports of Orimulsion fuel oil to China. 'Venezuela will make every effort to guarantee the Orimulsion fuel oil supply to China,' Pérez said.

Pérez said Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez is scheduled to visit China early next year to sign a number of cooperation agreements between the two countries".