Venezuela's interim President Rodriguez to visit India as oil imports rise

New Delhi: Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez will travel to India on Wednesday for a five-day visit, the foreign ministry said, as New Delhi scales up crude imports from Caracas.

India, the world's third-largest oil buyer, has revived crude supplies from Venezuela to blunt a sharp crude shortfall from the crisis-ridden Middle East.

Rodriguez will be accompanied by several ministers and will hold meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal.


"Acting President Rodriguez will hold bilateral discussions with the Prime Minister covering the full spectrum of India-Venezuela relations and exploring avenues for further cooperation in energy, trade, investment, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, transportation, and renewable energy," Jaiswal told reporters Tuesday.

Rodriguez was originally scheduled to be in New Delhi this week to participate in a summit on the conservation of big cat species, but the conference was postponed to ensure the participation of African nations grappling with Ebola.

India bought roughly 420,000 bpd of oil in May from Venezuela, up from 283,000 bpd in April, preliminary data from Kpler shows.

Rodriguez has been in charge of Venezuela, which accounts for around 17 percent of global crude reserves, since January, when US forces captured former socialist president Nicolas Maduro.