Venezuela's Chavez to visit oil-hungry China

BEIJING, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit China next week, sealing agreements that may include expanded energy cooperation and prompt wariness from the United States.

Chavez's state visit from Sept. 23-24 will include meetings with President Hu Jintao and agreements for cooperation in sports, judicial affairs and other areas, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference on Tuesday.

Asked whether his visit would also bring the energy-hungry Asian power expanded access to Venezuela's plentiful oil, Jiang was circumspect but did not rule out deals.

"Energy cooperation is a constitutive part of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Venezuela," she said, adding that Venezuela supplied only 4 percent of China's oil imports.

"As to whether both sides will sign other agreements, they are continuing consultations."

Chavez has repeatedly said he wants to sell more oil to China and Jiang said Chavez had been eager to visit "as early as possible".

A self-styled revolutionary and florid critic of Washington, Chavez wants to reduce his nation's traditional reliance on energy markets in the United States. China's big energy appetite and Communist Party government make it an attractive alternative.

Chavez has said he wants his country to ship China 1 million barrels per day of oil by around 2011, about 13 percent of its current oil demand.

Venezuela supplied China with 5.17 million tonnes of crude -- just 177,000 bpd -- in the first seven months of 2008, though this was a 94 percent increase on the same period last year.

In May, the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and the largest Chinese oil and gas company PetroChina (0857.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) agreed to build a refinery in China's far southern Guangdong province.

China this year lent $4 billion to Venezuela, which the South American country will repay in fuel, to create an investment fund for development projects.

Washington has long been critical of Chavez's leftwing politics at home and his jousting with U.S. policy abroad.

But Jiang stressed that China did not want to be drawn into diplomatic rivalry.

She said Beijing's ties with Caracas were "not directed at any third party". Of energy ties, she said, "Chinese and Venezuelan cooperation in this sphere will not affect Venezuela's oil supplies to other countries." (Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie) (chris.buckley@reuters.com; +96-13501014479)