Venezuela Oil Shipments to China Up Markedly, State Oil Firm Says

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB1WGH9QCE.html

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan oil shipments to China increased fivefold this year, surpassing 68,000 barrels a day on average, the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. said Tuesday.

The figure was released as officials announced Monday that the Venezuelan firm known as PDVSA had opened an office in China, the company's first in Asia.

Last year, an average of 12,300 barrels of oil a day were shipped to China, meaning that exports surged more than fivefold on average in 2005, PDVSA said in a statement.

Officials say Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, plans to ship as much as 300,000 barrels of crude a day to China and other Asian countries in the coming years.

[Supersedeas]

1. does Pat Robertson have his finger on the oil pulse?

[K-W]

2. Without a doubt. EOM

[wli]

3. odds of Venezuelan oil embargo... increasing n/t