African workers will benefit from oil training courses run by Venezuelan energy experts to streamline upstream operations, a Venezuelan state official has declared.

According to Afrik, foreign affairs vice-minister Reinaldo Jose Bolivar told journalists that the country had signed more than 150 training and development pacts with various African countries under the remit of the South America-African Union partnership.

Following a meeting with African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping, he said that the country would not shirk its commitment to human development because of the global downturn.

He did warn that the sliding oil price is likely to affect state revenues, although he iterated the country's commitment to intercontinental cooperation.

"There is no equitable price for petroleum. If this trend continues, this will affect investments in the countries that produce oil," he said.

According to Dow Jones Newswires, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has recently entered an agreement with counterpart Raul Castro of Cuba which will see the latter country's refinery output supplemented.

5th Global Education and Training event for Oil and Gas: Exploration and Production