By EFE,
Caracas : Chinese and Russian companies have agreed to invest a combined $36 billion in oil projects in the Orinoco Belt, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said.
The president said state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. will have a majority stake in the projects involving the Chinese and Russian firms.
The agreement with China “was signed (Tuesday)” in Beijing after two years of negotiations and calls for investment totalling $16 billion over the next three years to produce up to 450,000 barrels of crude per day in that heavy oil belt, Chavez said without identifying the Chinese companies.
He said the joint ventures with Chinese firms will involve “building oil drills, platforms, railroads that will traverse the belt and homes” in that area of eastern Venezuela.
The announcement of the agreement with China comes a week after an accord was reached with Russia for at least $20 billion worth of investment over the next three years, Chavez said.
“The deal we made with Russia for the belt has already been signed” and calls for producing up to 450,000 barrels per day, Chavez said.
Venezuela, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter and a key supplier to the US, currently is in the process of certifying the belt’s reserves, estimated at 234 billion barrels of heavy and extra-heavy crude.
When added to the 80 billion barrels of proven reserves in other parts of Venezuela, they make the South American country the world’s largest oil reserve.