Venezuela, Chile boost ties, agree to develop Orinoco fields

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Chilean counterpart Michelle Bachelet agreed to boost energy and economic ties between their nations, forming a joint venture to develop Venezuela’s oil-rich Orinoco Belt.

State-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA will work with Chile’s national oil company, Empresa Nacional de Petroleo, known as Enap, to certify heavy-crude reserves in the Orinoco’s Ayacucho Block 5. The area is home to four privately operated foreign joint ventures that Chavez is pushing out in favor of new mixed companies formed with other state firms, including those from Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Cuba, China, Iran and Russia.

Petroleumworld