Petrobras, PDVSA to develop Mariscal Sucre gas

Aug. 9, 2006
Brazil's state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) and Petroleos de Venezuela SA will form a 35-65% joint venture before yearend to develop Venezuela's Mariscal Sucre gas project (OGJ, June 24, 2002, p. 24).

Peter Howard Wertheim
OGJ Correspondent

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 9 -- Brazil's state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) and Petroleos de Venezuela SA will form a 35-65% joint venture before yearend to develop Venezuela's Mariscal Sucre gas project (OGJ, June 24, 2002, p. 24).

PDVSA will invest $3 billion and Petrobras, $2 billion to bring on production the four Norte de Paria fields that comprise the Mariscal Sucre project—Dragon, Mejillones, Patao, and Rio Caribe. The fields, which lie off Venezuela's northeastern coast in the Caribbean Sea, are believed to hold 11 tcf in gas reserves.

Petrobras said gas produced from Mariscal Sucre beginning in 2009-10 will be sold to the Venezuelan market; surplus production will be exported as LNG, mostly to Brazil.