By RIA Novosti
New Delhi : Indian and Venezuelan government officials signed a joint venture agreement to develop oil fields in Venezuela’s Orinoco basin, India’s oil and gas ministry said on Wednesday.
The agreement between state-run Petroleos De Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) and India’s ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), a 100% subsidiary of India’s leading national oil company ONGC, will see production at the San Cristobal field in Junin double to 40,000 bbl per day.
The Indian side, which will have a 40% stake, is to invest $356 million in the new venture.
Indian Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said at the signing in Caracas that the agreement is a historic milestone in growing cooperation between India and Venezuela in the oil and gas sector.
India, which meets only 30% of its domestic oil demand, is actively extending energy cooperation with other countries. OVL operates in 15 countries, including in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Venezuela is one of the largest oil producing countries in the world, with about 87 billion barrels of proven conventional oil reserves. In addition, it has a huge non-conventional oil deposits (heavy oil). Most of these deposits are located in the Orinoco oil belt.