Kuwait: 'Chavez pledges oil to support China's rise'

Visiting Beijing, Chavez proclaims that he wants to help the People's Republic of China become a great power to counter the United States.

"We need a China which grows more important and stronger by the day, because China is demonstrating to the world that you don't have to be an empire to be a great country," Chavez said in a report in the Kuwait Times.

Chavez told reporters he hopes to help the PRC build a petrochemical base in Venezuela.

"Deals to provide the oil include one with China National Petroleum Corp for the mature Zumano field which produces 50,000 bpd, one with Sinopec for a second field that can pump 20,000 barrels per day and a block in the Orinoco heavy oil belt," according to the Kuwait Times.


Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez underscored Chavez's words, saying that nearly half of Venezuela's new tanker fleet will be built in the PRC: "By 2012 we should have a fleet of 40 new tankers, 18 of which will come from China."