China and Venezuela are set to sign raft of new energy deals to mark a state visit from Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping this week.

Xi will arrive in Venezuela today and leave tomorrow.

In a statement, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolás Maduro Moros said the upcoming energy and finance deals were strategic and "at the highest level".

A $6 billion joint investment fund created in 2007 for new joint venture projects in Venezuela will be doubled to $12 billion, the statement said.

"This fund will allow Venezuela to finance projects under development and maintain economic growth for the next two or three years despite the worldwide financial crisis," Maduro said.

"We have a strategic long-term energy alliance for the next 100 years that will produce and refine up to 1 million barrels per day," he added.

The statement added that the pair are set to set up a number of new joint ventures, including one covering exploration and production.

China and Venezuela have announced multibillion-dollar joint venture projects in the past, but industry analysts have long said little has materialised after the deals were signed.

The two countries, however, may have resolved previous hurdles.

"The Chinese and PDVSA will sign a huge deal very soon," an industry source told BNamericas.

"It seems all the problems have been suddenly resolved after very long torturous back-and-forth negotiations over the past couple years."

"The logjam between them over the [Orinoco heavy crude belt] project seems finally to have broken," the source added.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez was in Beijing in September last year and signed many agreements to increase oil ties between the two countries.

Specifically, the two countries said they would boost output in the Orinoco heavy crude belt by 400,000 bpd.

Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu visited Venezuela in May last year, when PDVSA and its Chinese counterpart China National Petroleum Corporation agreed to produce oil at the Junin 4 block in the Orinoco heavy crude belt.

Source: Upstream