Venezuela received two Chinese-made oil tankers, the 2Mb-capacity VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) Ayacucho and the 1Mb-capcity Suezmax Río Arauca, Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA said in a press release.

VLCC Ayacucho is Venezuela's largest oil tanker to date and will be used to export crude along a Venezuela-Singapore-China-Venezuela route. It is the first of eight tankers being built by CV Shipping - a JV between PDVSA maritime shipping subsidiary PDV Marina and China state refiner PetroChina.

"We have been working on a way to diversify the petroleum market. Thanks to this independence we are exporting 640,000b/d to China and 400,000b/d to India," PDVSA president Rafael Ramírez said.

With the new tankers, Venezuela's fleet stands at 81 ships, up from 12 oil tankers in 2002.

Next month PDVSA expects the Boyacá tanker to arrive, followed by the Carabobo tanker in May 2014 and the Junín tanker in April 2014, the release said.