(Reuters) - "Russia's third largest oil firm TNK-BP half owned by oil major BP wants to start hydrocarbon exploration and production in Venezuela, Russian daily Kommersant reported.

TNK-BP has sent a letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asking for the state support to its plans to enter Venezuelan energy sector by creating a joint venture with the country's state oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the newspaper said.

'We have indeed received a letter from TNK-BP, but we can't give details,' the foreign ministry's spokesman told Reuters.

The news comes one day after Russia's second largest oil company LUKOIL reconfirmed its intention to set up a production deal with PDSVA.

LUKOIL's Vice President Andrei Kuzyayev told reporters at the Russian-Venezuelan forum in Moscow that LUKOIL would have a 40 percent stake in the joint venture at Orinoco, Venezuela's heavy crude belt in the east of the country."