Venezuela, China Petroleum Corp. Sign Deal to Boost Oil Production

Venezuela and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) have agreed on an investment plan of $2.2 billion, which will increase joint oil production by 277,000 barrels a day.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said after the agreement was signed on Thursday, as quoted by El Universal, that with this new deal "we will reach 800 thousand barrels a day with China."

According to Venezuela's Oil and Mining Affairs Minister Eulogio del Pino, the funds will be used to finish the construction of a new oil factory in China and to increase oil production at three joint ventures in Venezuela.

The agreement comes as Venezuela is striving to get the deal on cutting oil output finalized. According to a Thursday statement from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Maduro believes that the agreement can be finalized by the end of this month.

In September, the OPEC club of the world’s major oil producers reached a preliminary deal to set the oil output ceiling at 32.5-33 million barrels a day. The OPEC countries still have to finalize the deal at the OPEC summit in Vienna on November 30.