Venezuela, Russia Joint Oil Venture Seen Producing By May
October 06 2011 - 2:34PM
Dow Jones News
A joint venture between state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela
and a consortium of Russian companies is expected to begin
producing oil in the Orinoco heavy oil belt by May, officials said
Thursday.
"The physical work has begun," said Igor Sechin, deputy prime
minister of Russia, during a tour of the oil fields with Venezuelan
Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez.
Eventually, 34 wells will be drilled at the Orinoco's Junin 6
bloc, which is slated to begin producing crude by May. "It's one of
the biggest fields we have," Ramirez told reporters, adding that it
has potential for 450,000 barrels per day.
Speaking on state television, President Hugo Chavez said the
project is the latest example of strengthening ties with Russia as
the socialist leader looks to move away from his ideological foe,
the U.S. The Russian consortium is made up of OAO Rosneft
(ROSN.RS), Surgutneftegaz JSC (SGTZY), TNK-BP Holdings (TNBP.RS),
Lukoil Holdings (LUKOY) and Gazprom Neft (GZPFY).
Venezuelan officials are pushing foreign oil partners to
increase investment into developing the Orinoco belt, part of plans
to raise the country's crude production levels to 4 million barrels
a day by 2014, up from just under 3 million presently.
Speaking at an oil conference in Venezuela last week, officials
from various energy companies stressed that financing the
large-scale production projects may still prove challenging along
with bringing the required technology into Venezuela's vastly
underdeveloped eastern regions.
While the Orinoco holds one of the largest and mostly untapped
reserves of crude in the world, billions of dollars will have to be
poured into converting the region's tar-like heavy oil into a
usable and exportable commodity.
Venezuela aims to bring in $80 billion in investment over the
next several years to develop the fields.
-By Ezequiel Minaya, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-414-120-5738;
ezequiel.minaya@dowjones.com
Surgutneftegas PJSC (CE) (USOTC:SGTZY)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024
Surgutneftegas PJSC (CE) (USOTC:SGTZY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2023 to Jun 2024
