Venezuela is expected to sign contracts worth more than 1 billion US dollars by increasing oil its sales to China by 50,000 barrels a day by the end of the year, Bloomberg reported. Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, will increase sales to China to 200,000 barrels a day from the current 150,000 barrels per day, said the country’s oil minister Rafael Ramirez. Meanwhile, President Hugo Chavez will sign agreements for 18 oil tankers worth $1.3 billion, as well as 24 oil-drilling rigs, said Ramirez. Petroleos de Venezuela SA will also form a joint venture with China National Petroleum Corp for an oilfield-services company, Ramirez said. The two companies will also sign a final agreement to manage and operate Venezuela's Zumano oil fields in the eastern part of the country. Zumano has proven reserves of about 400 million barrels of light oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.