Venezuela will work with Russian companies Lukoil and Rosneft to extract oil from two areas in the Carabobo region, the government said on Wednesday, apparently undermining a bidding round for the same blocks.
The Carabobo I Center and North blocks will now be developed in a joint venture with Consorcio Ruso, Venezuela's official government gazette said. The Russian consortium includes Rosneft , Gazprom , Lukoil , TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz.
The same blocks in the Orinoco heavy crude region, in the east of the OPEC nation, are included in an auction process that began last year for seven subdivisions of the Carabobo area.
The agreement did not mention the auction process.
Consorcio Ruso was one of 19 groups that paid $2 million for information about the three projects to build upgraders that turn the Orinoco's tar-like oil into a valuable synthetic product.
Other participating oil majors include, including BP , Chevron , Shell ), Norway's StatoilHydro and France's Total .
Venezuela had expected to complete the deals by mid-2009.
Venezuelan law requires that state oil company PDVSA hold a majority stake in all upstream oil venture.
The Orinoco belt currently produces around 600,000 barrels per day of heavy crude, most of which is upgraded into lighter synthetic oil at four facilities.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez took over the four multibillion dollar projects last year, pushing out oil giants ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil in the process.
Story by Frank Jack Daniel from Reuters
Reuters 06/03/2009
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