
PDVSA, Venezuela’s government oil and gas giant will allow joint ventures with China National Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Corp. to manage 6 billion dollars in loans designed to revert oil output declines, said a PDVSA official.

Venezuela in 2012 became a net importer of gasoline as a result of escalating problems at its refineries and increasing demand for fuel in its internal market, joining a growing list of countries that struggle with fuel supplies despite ample oil reserves.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected in Caracas early Friday on time to pay tribute to his late Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, who died earlier this week after a two-year battle with cancer. Ahmadinejad left Tehran for Caracas on Thursday.

Venezuela will hike the amount of oil it is sending to India's Reliance Industries and signed a new 15-year supply contract with the company, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez announced this week.

Venezuela and Argentina signed three institutional agreements and 24 among corporations during the two-day First Meeting for the Venezuela-Argentina Petro-industrial development with the purpose of intensifying trade, investment and cooperation between the two countries.

Venezuela is carrying out an “exhaustive” inspection of its biggest refinery before attempting to restart processing after extinguishing a four-day fire yesterday caused by an explosion that killed 48 people and left hundreds homeless.

Venezuela's biggest refinery is on track to restart within two days, the Energy minister said on Sunday, a day after an explosion and fire there killed 41people in one of the global oil industry's deadliest accidents.

Some 130 billion dollars will be invested in Venezuela's Orinoco Oil Belt between 2013 and 2019 to boost national production from 3 million barrels per day to 6 million bpd, President Hugo Chavez announced on Tuesday evening.

Venezuelan oil sales to China have jumped by 60% since the start of the year, the country's oil minister said in an interview published on Sunday in the state-run Correo del Orinoco.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced he expected to sign an oil/gas alliance between Argentina’s YPF and PDVSA (Venezuelan Petroleum) when he meets with his peer Cristina Fernandez in Brasilia in the framework of the Mercosur extraordinary summit to officially incorporate the country as full member of the trade group.