Venezuela Says It Gets Japanese Financing for Refining Projects

By Matthew Walter May 20 (Bloomberg) - http://www.bloomber g.com/apps/ news?pid= email_en&refer=latin_ america&sid=akFZKP9r. wpQ - Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company, obtained financing from Japan to pay for expansions at two refineries in the South American country, Oil and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said. The company will use the funds to upgrade its El Palito and Puerto La Cruz refineries to improve the capacity to handle heavy crude, Ramirez said today, according to a statement on the company's Web site. "We've agreed on financing from Japanese companies,'' he said, according to the statement. Venezuela didn't disclose the names of the lenders. Venezuela, the fourth-biggest supplier of crude oil to the U.S., plans to lift crude oil output to 5.35 million barrels a day by 2012. The government says output is currently 3.3 million barrels a day, while Bloomberg estimates put the country's production at 2.32 million barrels a day. In February 2007, Petroleos received a $3.5 billion loan from a group of Japanese lenders led by Japan Bank for International Cooperation. In exchange, PDVSA agreed to supply as many as 30,000 barrels a day of oil and refined products for the next 15 years to Marubeni Corp. and Mitsui & Co., which helped provide the money.