China will invest $5 billion in various projects across Venezuela in the coming years, including three power plants, state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA.

The deal forms part of a long-term accord between the two countries in which Venezuela sends China oil in return for Chinese investments in Venezuelan infrastructure, technology, agriculture and other areas of the economy, PDVSA said in a statement.

Projects include three 300-megawatt thermoelectric power plants needed to back up the nation's power grid, which has failed to meet demand recently due to over reliance on hydroelectric power stations that suffered during a drought. PDVSA gave no timeline for the new plants to be built. The company said the $5 billion would fund 19 projects in total, without specifying all of them.

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Posted by mopeng at July 30, 2010 10:20 AM