Venezuela, Russia in oil venture

Venezuela and Russia formed a joint venture to produce 120,000 barrels of oil a day by 2016 in two fields in the Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt. Russia will loan Venezuela $1.5 billion to finance the development of the fields under the terms of the agreement, and put up $1.1 billion for a 40 percent share in Petrovictoria. The agreement establishing Petrovictoria was signed by the president of the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Rafael Ramirez, and the president of Russian state oil company Rosneft, Igor Sechin. PDVSA will sell to Russia 72 percent of the heavy and extra-heavy crude produced by the company, which has a long-term goal of producing 400,000 barrels a day. Three mixed capital companies are currently operating in the Orinoco Belt, producing 230,000 barrels a day in a huge area of southeastern Venezuela. The Belt has estimated reserves of 220 billion barrels of harder-to-refine heavy and extra-heavy oil, the largest in the world.