April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Japan will invest $33.5 billion in Venezuela, mostly in oil, natural-gas and chemical projects, President Hugo Chavez said at the end of a state visit.

Investments from the Asian nation include $10 billion within five years in liquefied natural gas, $8 billion in petrochemicals, $1.5 billion in refining and $4 billion in a joint-project finance fund, Chavez said, according to an e- mailed statement sent by his press office. Chavez didn’t specify where the remaining $10 billion would be invested, according to the statement.

Chavez is on a tour to secure energy investments after declining oil prices forced him to cut government spending in March. He met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week and will travel to China after concluding a two-day visit to Japan today, where he met with Prime Minster Taro Aso.

Venezuela secured $8 billion of investment in its Orinoco oil belt over five years from Japanese companies, Chavez told reporters in Tokyo today. South America’s biggest oil exporter wants to sell more to Japan and China and diversify away from its biggest overseas market, the U.S., he said.

“Japan needs oil,” Chavez said. “Venezuela wants to diversify its market.”

Chavez said he will sign a $4 billion investment deal in China tomorrow. Venezuela, the fourth-largest supplier of crude oil to the U.S., depends on oil for 93 percent of its export revenue and half of the government’s budget.

Orinoco Study

Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s largest trading company, and Inpex Corp. signed an agreement with Venezuela to study energy exploration and production in the Orinoco Delta area yesterday, the companies said in a joint statement.

Prime Minister Taro Aso’s office said the two leaders signed a memorandum of understanding on Orinoco yesterday, without giving details.

Chavez, a long-time critic of former U.S. President George W. Bush, praised President Barack Obama’s desire to end global conflicts and said it may be possible to work together with his administration. Chavez, who last month called Obama an “ignoramus,” today said the first African-American U.S. president was “blacker” than former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Oil Imports

Intensified competition for natural resources with China and India has prompted Japan to invest more in overseas oil and natural-gas reserves, including in Venezuela. Japan gets more than 80 percent of its oil from the Middle East, which is closer and has better-quality crude.

Asia’s largest economy imported 322,000 kiloliters (2 million barrels) of crude from Venezuela in 2007, marking its first purchase from the South American nation in 11 years, according to the trade ministry. The volume amounted to just 0.1 percent of Japan’s overall imports of about 239 million kiloliters.

Marubeni Corp. and Mitsui & Co., Japan’s second-largest trading company, signed a $3.5 billion deal in 2007 to import crude oil and petroleum products from Venezuela over 15 years. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation provided $1.89 billion in loans to support the companies.

In 1992, Inpex, Japan’s biggest energy explorer, acquired 100 percent of an onshore exploration area in Venezuela as part of a project to rehabilitate an existing field and explore for a new one. In 2006, the company was forced to sell a 70 percent share to PVDSA, as the state oil company is known, under Chavez’s policy of nationalizing the energy industry, according to the company’s Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Harrington in Tokyo at pharrington8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 7, 2009 10:54 EDT