Venezuela to offer licenses off east coast

Nov. 21, 2005
Venezuela plans to offer a series of new offshore exploration and production licenses next year in the Gulf of Paria and Plataforma Deltana, said Minister of Petroleum and Mines Rafael Ramirez.

Peter Howard Wertheim
OGJ Correspondent

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 21 -- Venezuela plans to offer a series of new offshore exploration and production licenses next year in the Gulf of Paria and Plataforma Deltana, said Minister of Petroleum and Mines Rafael Ramirez.

"We are going back to eastern Venezuela," said Ramirez, who also is president of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). "Now that the objectives in western Venezuela have been accomplished, we will award blocks in the offshore area of the eastern part of the country."

Ramirez added that the country would employ the same terms and procedures used for the Rafael Urdaneta gas project licensing (OGJ Online, Nov. 17, 2005). The blocks to be bid will be announced during first-quarter 2006, and registered competitors for the concessions will submit private bids, he said.

Ramirez noted that the first two licensing rounds for the Rafael Urdaneta project had mixed results, with blocks awarded to Chevron Corp., Eni SPA, OAO Gazprom, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Repsol-YPF, and Teikoku Oil Co. Four of the 10 blocks offered received no bids and were not awarded. No new licenses in the project are to be granted during 2006, however, since PDVSA is to conduct a new series of geological studies on the remaining 23 blocks.