Min says Venezuela wants to raise oil supplies to Rosneft

BAKU, Mar 18 (PRIME) -- Venezuela fulfills its obligations to Russian oil major Rosneft and wants to raise oil supplies, Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo told reporters on Monday.

“We are fulfilling the obligations, besides, we want to raise (oil supplies). Our main goal is to strengthen relations with Russia and China,” Quevedo said.

Rosneft earlier made a U.S. $6.5 billion advanced payment to Venezuela’s PDVSA for oil supplies to be delivered at the end of 2020. The debt of Venezuela amounted to $2.3 billion as of the end of 2018.

Juan Guaido, president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, declared himself president of the country as long as the interim government is in power. The U.S. and many other states have acknowledged Guaido, while Russia, China, and some other states supported Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

Washington slapped sanctions on PDVSA on January 28, blocking its assets worth U.S. $7 billion in the U.S. jurisdiction, and prohibiting all deals with the company.

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