Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras and Venezuela's PdVSA will invest $2 billion in the development of Venezuela's Carabobo block in the Orinoco heavy oil belt, the Brazilian company said Thursday.
The two companies expect to start output from the extra-heavy field in 2009, Petrobras spokeswoman Carolina Rocha said.
Petrobras, or Petroleo Brasileiro SA, will take a 40 percent stake in the project, while PdVSA, or Petroleos de Venezuela SA, will have 60 percent, Petrobras International Director Nestor Cervero told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, Brazil's largest.
The increase of activities by Petrobras in Venezuela comes as some private companies are leaving the Orinoco region.
ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. are negotiating exit terms from their interests in multibillion dollar projects in the Orinoco belt after Venezuela forced foreign companies to cede a majority stake in all Orinoco production to PdVSA.
Venezuela has certified 28.6 billion barrels of oil reserves in place at the Carabobo 3 block, of which it expects to extract 20 percent, PdVSA said recently.
Petrobras and PdVSA plan to upgrade the tar oil from Carabobo I in Venezuela and ship part of the production to a heavy oil refinery in northeastern Brazil to be built by both companies.
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