State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA and China National Petroleum Corp., the country's largest oil producer, may also build tankers to ship the Venezuelan crude to China, President Hugo Chavez said, according to a statement e-mailed by the Communications and Information Ministry today.
The two oil companies began exploratory drilling in the Junin 4 block, one of 27 undeveloped tracts in the heavy oil belt, or Faja, in October.
``The United States as a power is going down and China is going up,'' Chavez said, according to the statement. ``China is the market of the future.''
Chavez, speaking in Caracas, said Venezuela will diversify its oil exports to ease dependence on the U.S. market, where Venezuela ships about 1.5 million barrels a day. Chavez reiterated Venezuela's goal to boost oil exports to China to 1 million barrels a day by 2012 from about 150,000 barrel today.
