Venezuela, China sign oil development agreements

Venezuela and China have signed a series of agreements to develop oil resources in eastern Venezuela, the Wall Street Journal reported. The agreements, coming after two days of talks in Caracas, will see China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) develop the Boyaca 3 oil block in the Orinoco belt. China National Petroleum corp also secured access to another oil block in the Orinoco belt region and will build a refinery to process crude from a Sino-Venezuelan oil joint venture. Venezuela is trying to increase oil sales to China to 1 million barrels per day, from 400,000 per day at present.