Venezuela, China to partner on oil-drill venture
(AP)
Updated: 2006-07-19 09:10 Venezuela plans to enter into
a joint venture with China to manufacture oil drills, instead of buying them
from U.S. companies, President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday.
Chavez said during a speech in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas that China
will "help us put together a factory to build oil drills."
He did not specify how many drills Venezuela plans to buy or give a launch
date for the venture, which will be jointly financed by Venezuelan and Beijing.
The world's fifth-largest oil exporter, Venezuela sells most of its oil to
the United States, but Chavez has sought to reduce that dependency as relations
between the two nations soured in recent years.
At the same time, he has worked to strengthen relations with China. The South
American country presently sells 160,000 barrels a day of crude and diesel to
China and aims to nearly double that to 300,000 barrels a day by the end of the
year.
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