Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state-owned petroleum company of the South American country, opened a representative office in Beijing on Monday.

Rafael Ramirez, minister of energy and petroleum of Venezuela's Bolivarian Republic and president of PDVSA, said the establishment of the representative office, PDVSA China, marks a new starting point of energy cooperation between Venezuela and China. He expected a deeper relationship between oil companies of the two countries.

Ma Fucai, deputy director of the executive office of the energy leading group headed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, said at the inauguration ceremony that the opening of the office is a milestone in energy cooperation of China and Venezuela.

"It will become an important supplementary to the relationship between the two governments and act as a bridge between companies of the two countries," said Ma.

Venezuela is rich in oil resources and is the world's fifth largest crude oil exporter.

Source: Xinhua