Chavez Says Venezuela State Oil Company PDVSA to Expand Work Force

State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA will expand its work force by more than a third next year, President Hugo Chavez said Friday.

The company known as PDVSA currently has about 74,900 employees and will increase that to 101,590 employees next year, Chavez said during a speech to students. He said the work force will continue expanding to more than 113,800 workers in 2009.

The oil company has seen a rapid expansion in its payroll amid high oil prices as Chavez's government has assumed majority state control of various oil projects previously run by major multinationals.

As recently as 2005, the state oil company had 44,000 workers, a majority of them falling under private contractors.

Chavez also reiterated that PDVSA, whose top client remains the United States, also plans to gradually raise oil exports to China. As part of that effort, Venezuela has formed joint ventures to eventually operate three planned refineries in China, Chavez said.

While the state oil company grows, PDVSA plans to triple its tanker fleet, partly by setting up a shipbuilding factory in the South American country, Chavez said. He added that Venezuela will also begin manufacturing its own oil drills soon.