President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro says his country has reached an agreement with Russia, which will see investment of $14 billion in the oil and gas sector over the next few years.
The agreement was reached between the Venezuelan state oil firm,
PDVSA (Petroleos de Venezuela) and the Russian oil giant,
Rosneft, after talks in the South American country’s capital,
Caracas, between Maduro, the president of PDVSA, Eulogio Del
Pino, and the president of Rosneft, Igor Sechin.
“We had a great meeting and agreed on investment of over $14
billion,” said Maduro in a television address, following a
meeting with Sechin. He added that the funds would go towards
doubling Venezuela’s oil production.
Reunión Rosneft PDVSA: orientada a incrementar la producción de
crudos en la #FPO “Hugo
Chávez Frías” | pic.twitter.com/H5Knp2qqMu
— PDVSA (@PDVSA) May 28,
2015
The meeting between Rosneft and PDVSA: Oriented to increase crude
production in the Hugo Chavez Frias field.
According to the Venezuelan president, the investment will be
used to develop the so-called Orinoco Belt, which runs through
the northeast and into the Caribbean Sea. The belt holds some of
the largest crude oil reserves in the world. The two countries
will also look into developing the Latin American nation’s gas
sphere.
PDVSA had set an ambitious target to try and double the country’s
oil production to 6 million barrels a day by 2019, which is 8
million tons a year. The figure in 2014 was just 1.6 million tons
per year. Four million of these barrels are expected to come from
the Orinoco Belt. However, Maduro did not provide any details of
how the investment plan would be put into practice.
The company also mentioned that Rosneft had proposed an increase
of its stake in its subsidiary, Petromonagas. The Russian company
currently owns 16.7 percent, but offered to increase this to 40
percent, which is the maximum allowed for a foreign partner in a
joint oil venture in Venezuela.
READ MORE: Russia and Venezuela agree to boost
investment in Orinoco oil belt
During a visit to Moscow in January, during which Maduro met with
President Vladimir Putin, the Venezuelan head of state mentioned
that the two countries would increase the number of joint
exploration projects.
“We have agreed to step up the investment and participation
of Russian companies and their share of joint ventures in the
Orinoco oil belt and other projects. This will expand investments
in stocks and oil production,” Maduro said on January 15. He
also added that the two nations had agreed to share technology.
The Orinoco oil and gas basin is has more than 250 oil and 19 gas
fields. The world’s largest deposits of heavy oil, the Junin and
Carabobo are located in the west of the area. The oilfields in
the Orinoco oil basin and offshore gives Venezuela the world’s
largest-known reserves.
Rosneft has already been involved with PDVSA in projects in the
Orinoco Belt after a deal was signed in September 2012 to develop
the Carabobo 2 in the southern part of the belt. The Russian
state-controlled oil giant agreed to invest $16 billion in the
project.
Meanwhile, in November 2014, Rosneft and PDVSA signed a new
contract for the supply of oil and gas, with the documents
stating that the Russian company would receive 1.6 million tons
of oil and 9 million tons of oil products within a five-year
period.
Rosneft is currently take part in five oil extracting projects in
Venezuela.