The President of Repsol, Antonio Brufau, and the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, Caracas signed at the formation of joint venture PetroCarabobo SA, responsible for the development of heavy oil reserves of Carabobo project in the Orinoco belt of Venezuela one area in more undeveloped hydrocarbon resources of the world.

The area of Carabobo is located in the east of the Orinoco Belt, which, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, could have a recoverable volume of up to 513 000 million barrels of heavy oil.

Repsol with a 11% stake, coordinates the consortium which won last February's rights Carabobo 1 block North and Central, along with the Indian company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (11%), Petronas (11%) , Oil India Limited (3.5%) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (3.5%). PDVSA, according to Venezuelan law, controls the remaining 60%.

The project will allow Repsol, according to our estimates, increase their net reserves 134 million barrels of oil with a projected net investment of $ 750 million until 2014. This figure would add another 134 million barrels in the period 2015-2019.

The development of heavy oil in Venezuela is complemented further with a trade agreement that the system in Spain Repsol refinery will process 165,000 barrels of oil per day. This agreement creates significant competitive advantage Repsol experience in using advanced techniques of high-conversion refineries.

The joint venture will also build the production facilities and improvement of oil as well as associated infrastructure for handling and transport. This contract will last 25 years, and may be extended another 15 years.

Tags: RepsolYPF