CARACAS-Japan will lend US$1.5 billion to the Venezuelan state-owned company, PDVSA, in return for supplies of three million barrels crude annually over a five-year period, a Japanese diplomat said last week. Takashi Kondo, economic attache at the Japanese embassy in Venezuela, told Reuters the crude supplied would be the low-density Santa Barbara type most suitable for the Asian nation's refineries.
"The oil blend will be Santa Barbara, the only kind of Venezuelan oil that we can use in our refineries because of its light density," Kondo told El Nacional. "This will help us with power generation problems we are confronting after the tragedy we suffered." The deal is also intended to aid Japan's electricity generation after its earthquake and nuclear crisis earlier this yearThe low interest, "soft" credit deal from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will be inked on June 28 in Caracas at a ceremony to be attended by Venezuela's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, he said.PDVSA urgently needs more income for its ambitious investment plans in the southern Orinoco Belt region.(Bloomberg/AVN/Reuters)