Venezuela's oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) exported 5.3 million barrels of crude and fuel oil to China and Singapore last week, the company said in a statement on Friday.

The state-owned PDVSA said it sent a Very Large Crude Cargo (VLCC) supertanker carrying 1.9 million barrels of crude oil to China and two more VLCC ships filled with fuel oil to Singapore on Dec. 12 and Dec. 13 respectively.

According to the PDVSA, this was its first multiple supply operation and the move represented part of the company's policy of diversifying markets away from the United States, which is currently the company's largest single client.

The company said on Thursday that it was exporting 140,000 barrels a day to China and intended to more than double the amount to 300,000 barrels.

Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and supplies 15 percent of the United States' gas needs, although relations between the two countries have always been tense.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez believes that the United States was behind the 2002 coup attempt which ousted him for 72 hours.

Source: Xinhua