CDB to invest $250m to boost Venezuela oil production

China Development Bank (CDB) will invest more than $250 million to boost oil production by state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A (PDVSA) in the Orinoco Belt.

Finance Minister Simon Zerpa, who met with officials from China Development Bank and China National Petroleum Corporation, said: "We've received the authorisation for a direct investment of more than $250 million from China Development Bank to increase PDVSA production, and we're already putting together financing for a special loan that China's government is granting Venezuela for $5 billion for direct investments in production."

Venezuela's oil output averaged 2.9 million barrels a day in 2013, when President Nicolas Maduro was first elected. But in June, output dropped to around 1.36 million barrels per day.