BEIJING, October 10 (InfoChina) - Sino-Venezuela Oriulsion Emulsified Oil Company, a JV between CNPC, the parent company of PetroChina (NYSE: PTR), and PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, has put its second-phase construction into formal operation recently, marking completion of the whole Orinoco heavy oil processing project between the two companies.

 The first-phase of the project came on stream in later April.

   The JV was established in December 2001 under a governmental cooperation agreement to explore and develop Venezuela’s abundant Orinoco heavy oil.

According to the agreement, the JV has a designed annual handling capacity of 6.5 million tons of Orinoco oil. CNPC is responsible for selling the emulsified heavy oil to the Chinese market as feedstock to be used for power plants.