Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Apr. 11 -- Petroleos de Venezuela SA and India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. have signed an agreement for the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas under a joint venture called Petrolera IndoVenezolana.
PDVSA will control 60% of the venture and ONGC Videsh Ltd. will own the remaining 40%. Venezuela estimates the partners will produce some 232 million bbl of oil over the next 25 years from San Cristobal field—a 160-sq-km area in Anzoategui and Guarico states.
Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, during the signing of the agreement, said that San Cristobal field "could increase its daily output from the current 30,000 bbl to 60,000 in the next few years."
India's Petroleum Secretary M.S. Srinivasan said ONGC will invest as much as $450 million in the venture and that production should start within 3 years. Ramirez said ONGC paid PDVSA an initial $173 million, with the rest of the investment to be made over the next 5 years.
Meanwhile, Ramirez said Venezuela also will supply 7.5 million tonnes of oil to India's Reliance Industries Ltd. for its refinery under construction at Jamnagar in Gujarat state. Reliance expects that the facility likely will be completed ahead of its original December 2008 deadline.
"We had talks with Reliance officials [Apr. 9] and have agreed to supply 150,000 b/d of oil from June under a long-term supply contract," Ramirez said.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
