Iran to help Venezuela to sell more oil to Asia
By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas
Published: January 30 2005 22:04 | Last updated: January 30 2005 22:04
Venezuela & oilVenezuela has enlisted Iran's help to steer its oil exports to China and away from its traditional US market.
A team of traders from Petroleos de Venezuela, the state-owned oil company, is to be trained in London by Iranian advisers in how to best place oil in Asian markets, people close to the industry say.
The move is part of an effort by Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, to strengthen ties with China at the expense of the US, with whom relations are again becoming strained after a two-year period of calm.
Iran is Venezuela's closest ally in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has agreed to keep output quotas unchanged in the short term to support oil prices.
At the weekend, Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan president, signed accords with Zeng Qinghong, China's vice-president, to allow the China National Petroleum Corporation to develop oil and gas reserves in Venezuela.
“China has come here as a sister nation to extend a friendly hand to the neediest in Latin America,” Mr Chávez said.
Venezuela is in talks with Panama to find ways of transporting oil across the Pacific Ocean, which would allow it to send oil to Asia more cheaply.
Mr Chávez, who has been in power for six years, has threatened to cut off oil supplies to the US on several occasions in response to what he asserts are persistent attempts by Washington to meddle in domestic affairs.
Venezuela settled an intense, two-week diplomatic dispute with the US-backed government of Colombia at the weekend after claims of a US-assisted “kidnapping” in Caracas of a Colombian rebel wanted by Bogotá.
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