Conoco Inc. and partners are moving ahead with two Venezuelan oil development projects.
The projects advanced with the signing of agreements to produce synthetic crude oil and Orimulsion power plant fuel for world markets.
The first agreement, between Conoco and state owned Petroleos de Venezuela's (Pdvsa's) Maraven, marks the start of engineering and field work on a program to produce Orinoco heavy oil and convert it to synthetic crude oil. Processing is to take place in Conoco's U.S. refining system and other world refineries.
Conoco and Maraven are 50-50 partners in the program.
HEAVY OIL PRODUCTION
The Conoco-Maraven venture was the first strategic alliance approved by the Venezuelan Congress in 1993.
The $1.7 billion project will produce more than 1.5 billion bbl of heavy oil from a 55,000-acre tract in the Zuata region of the Orinoco oil belt.
During the 35-year project life, heavy oil will move by pipeline to an upgrading plant at Jose on the Venezuelan coast.
The upgrader, based on Conoco's delayed coking technology, converts 125,000 b/d of heavy crude oil into 105,000 b/d of synthetic crude for export.
ORIMULSION
Conoco and three partners also signed a preliminary agreement to produce and market Orimulsion, a boiler fuel made up of 70% bitumen and 30% water.
Bitumens Orinoco SA, (Bitor) a wholly owned subsidiary of Pdvsa, patented the Orimulsion process and is selling the fuel to power plants around the world.
The partners are Conoco, Bitor, Norway's Statoil, and a group formed by engineering firms Jantesa and Distral Termica.
The joint venture will invest $320 million to produce heavy oil in the Cerro Negro region of the, Orinoco oil belt and convert it to 100,000 b/d of Orimulsion at a plant to be built in the area. The project will develop more than 750 million bbl of oil during its 30-year life.
Most of the fuel will be sold to Florida Power & Light. The joint venture ultimately may produce as much as 300,000 b/d of Orimulsion for sale in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and elsewhere.
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