Venezuelan exports of crude oil and fuels to the U.S. dropped to their lowest levels since 1999 in the first half of the year as the South American country boosted sales to India and China, a government report showed.

The country shipped an average of 1.451 million barrels a day to the U.S., including the Virgin Islands, in the period, the lowest since averaging 1.41 million barrels a day in the second half of 1999, according to U.S. Energy Department figures.

The total through June is below the 1.454 million-barrel average in the first half of 2003, when a strike crippled Venezuela's oil industry for two months.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been reaching out to new markets in Latin America, Europe and Asia to reduce reliance on the U.S..

The country halted shipments to Exxon Mobil Corp. refineries in February amid a legal battle over expropriated assets, reducing shipments in March to the lowest level since the strike in 2003.

Shipments to India grew from nothing last year to average 4 million barrels a month, or about 133,000 barrels a day, state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela said this spring.

Venezuela boosted sales of fuel oil to China to an average 10,800 tons a day from 7,900 tons in the prior six-month period, according to Chinese customs.