October
31, 2003.
Venezuela foreign companies
operated oil fields' output to increase
(Wall Street Journal) - Oil production
at 33 Venezuelan oil fields that are operated
by foreign companies is set to increase to 630,000
barrels per day by 2005, up from the current 481,000
b/d, according to a recent filing of state-owned
oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PVZ.YY)
to the Securities and Exchange Commission, or
SEC.
The 55 companies that operate the fields under
so-called operating service
agreements have invested over $7 billion since
the fields were awarded in three bidding rounds
in 1992, 1993 and 1997.
The current crude production quota is 2.92 million
b/d. Including production at the Orinoco belt,
foreign companies produce around one million b/d
of the total output. In the filing to the SEC,
PdVSA also said that development of the Paria
East block in eastern Venezuela would require
a total investment of $1.04 billion in the coming
years. A sum of $557 million already has been
approved and earmarked by PdVSA and a group of
Venezuelan and foreign energy companies.
