Monday,
July 21
PDVSA to Invest up to US$45bn
through 2010
(BNAmericas) - Venezuela's state oil company
PDVSA plans to invest about US$40bn-45bn to increase
its production capacity to 5-6 million barrels
a day (mb/d) by 2010, PDVSA VP Aires Barreto said
at a conference in Washington DC.
PDVSA's
current production is about 3.1mb/d, according
to government officials, though private studies
put the figure closer to 2.6mb. In its business
plan through 2010, PDVSA will focus on four main
activities: monetizing heavy crude production,
exploring for medium and light crude, developing
its gas business, and downstream activities, Barreto
said in a statement.
The
company will invest about US$5bn a year in the
next few years, with emphasis on exploration and
production, followed by investment in strategic
associations, which will mainly be in integrated
projects in the Orinoco belt, he said.
PDVSA
is also continuing with plans to develop the country's
offshore natural gas resources. It awarded two
blocks on the Deltana platform in February and
plans to award two more in August and seven blocks
in the Gulf of Venezuela off the coast of Falcon
state by the end of the year. "Our reserves
make Venezuela a center of energy excellence in
the Western hemisphere. We need to work so that
the hydrocarbons sector contributes to achieving
sustainable development, and for that we count
on the support of our international commercial
partners, because private capital is a friend
for the Venezuelan government", Energy Minister
Rafael Ramírez said. Venezuela has total
estimated offshore reserves of 20.5 billion barrels
of crude and 82 trillion cubic feet of gas.
