Carabobo: Venezuela sets record straight
Venezuela sets record straight
Venezuela clarified today that an oil project it is developing with a consortium of Russian companies is not in the Carabobo area, which is due to be auctioned this year.
Venezuela state oil company PDVSA will develop the Junin 6 oil Block with a group of Russian companies that includes Rosneft, Gazprom, Lukoil, TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz.
Venezuela's official gazette yesterday erroneously said the joint venture was going to develop the Carabobo I central and northern blocks, said a Reuters report.
"This week or next a gazette should be printed with the correct Block (Junin 6). Those blocks (Carabobo) are being publicly tendered," a company spokesman said.
Junin 6 has the potential to produce 200,000 barrels per day, PDVSA said in March.
Seven subdivisions of the Carabobo area in the Orinoco heavy crude region, in the east of the Opec nation, are included in an auction process that began last year.
The process has been delayed for months but this week in Abu Dhabi a PDVSA executive, Eulogio del Pino, said the tender might take place at the end of this year, with an estimated investment of $6 billion.
Nineteen companies, including, Chevron, Shell, StatoilHydro and Total, along with the Russian group, paid $2 million each for a data pack about the Carabobo project.