Chinese and Venezuelan national oil companies on Friday kicked off the construction of an oil-refining joint venture in south China's Guangdong province, local authorities said.
The oil refinery in Huilai county has a designed annual production capacity of 50 million tonnes, the county government said in a statement.
China National Petroleum Corp. holds a 60-percent stake in the venture and Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. holds the remaining part. The two parties have also planned to build two one-million-tonne ethylene production facilities.
The first phase, which includes a 20-million-tonne refining facility, oil ports and tanks, costs about 58.6 billion yuan (9.3 billion U.S. dollars).
The refiner will process extra-heavy crude oil imported from Venezuela and is expected to start operating at the end of 2014.
The joint venture will help to diversify China's crude supplies and, therefore, ensure the country's energy security, it said.
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