CHINA FOR VENEZUELA: $50 BLN

REUTERS - China said on Thursday it opposes outside interference in Venezuela and supports its efforts to protect its independence and stability.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called for all sides to calmly and reasonably find a peaceful solution.

"China supports efforts made by the Venezuelan government to protect the country's sovereignty, independence and stability," Hua told a regular briefing in Beijing.

"...I want to emphasize that outside sanctions or interference usually make the situation more complicated and are not helpful to resolving the actual problems."

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president on Wednesday, winning backing from Washington and parts of Latin America and prompting Nicolas Maduro, the country's leader since 2013, to break off ties with the United States.

China has lent over $50 billion to Venezuela through oil-for-loan agreements over the past decade, securing energy supplies for its fast-growing economy.

But the financing dried up as the South American country's economy began spiraling downward in 2015, pressured by plummeting oil prices.

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Earlier:

2019, January, 25, 08:20:00 U.S. - VENEZUELA SANCTIONS PLATTS - Chevron, PBF Energy, Valero and Citgo, which is owned by PDVSA, are the largest US refiners of Venezuelan crude, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Spokesmen for those four companies did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

2019, January, 9, 10:45:00 VENEZUELA'S OIL PRODUCTION: BELOW 1 MBD PLATTS - The US Energy Information Administration forecasts that Venezuelan oil production will fall below 1 million b/d in the second half of 2019, according to Erik Kreil, an international energy analysis team leader with the EIA.

2018, December, 12, 08:40:00 VENEZUELA - RUSSIA OIL: $17 BLN PLATTS - Russia will invest $5 billion to raise Venezuela's oil production by 1 million b/d under a new economic agreement, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday.

2018, November, 23, 12:05:00 VENEZUELA'S ECONOMY DOWN 17% REUTERS - Preliminary data compiled by Venezuela’s central bank shows the economy shrank by 16.6 percent in 2017 compared with the year before, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, the country’s sharpest decline on record.

2018, September, 17, 15:00:00 VENEZUELA - CHINA COOPERATION REUTERS - Venezuela gave China another stake in the OPEC nation’s oil industry and signed several other deals in the energy sector, but Beijing made no mention of new funds for Caracas during President Nicolas Maduro’s visit to his key financier on Friday.

2018, July, 25, 09:15:00 VENEZUELA'S ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IMF - On Venezuela, it is difficult to discuss because it is in a state of economic collapse. We have not engaged with them in over a decade on their economic policies.

2018, June, 22, 13:10:00 THE LARGEST VENEZUELA'S OIL U.S. EIA - Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world, in large part because of the heavy oil reserves in the Orinoco Oil Basin. In addition to oil reserves, Venezuela has sizeable natural gas reserves, although the development of natural gas lags significantly behind that of oil. However, in the wake of political and economic instability in the country, crude oil production has dramatically decreased, reaching a multi-decades low in mid-2018.