Today Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee met with Jorge Rodriguez, Vice President of Venezuela.

The parties discussed issues regarding the Russian-Venezuelan long-term cooperation in the energy sector. Particularly, the parties pointed to high cooperation level between Gazprom and PdVSA Venezuelan state oil and gas company within the joint natural gas prospecting and development projects in Venezuela.

The participants examined the prospects of Gazprom participation in oil and gas infrastructure development in Venezuela as well as an opportunity to cooperate in other offshore and onshore production projects.

Reference:

The proved gas reserves of Venezuela account for 4.3 tcm being at the first place in Latin America. The proved oil reserves are at 11.2 bln t (7 per cent out of the world reserves). The annual gas production is nearly 70 bcm. The total gas produced is only domestically consumed. The country does not import or export natural gas. In the Venezuela’s energy balance natural gas, oil and hydropower are estimated at 41, 38, and 21 per cent, respectively.

Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA) being a state owned company is a monopolistic gas producer in Venezuela. Venezuela participates in the construction project of the transcontinental pipeline system in South America, which will connect Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia to the unified energy network.

Gazprom runs its business in Venezuela in the frames of the Memorandum of understanding signed between Gazprom and PdVSA in January 2005. The document foresees an opportunity for Gazprom to participate in the oil and gas projects in cooperation with PdVSA.

In September Gazprom 2005 was declared the winner of the tender for exploration and development of natural gas fields in the Gulf of Venezuela within the Rafael Urdaneta project (Urumaco I and Urumaco II Blocks). In 2007 under the terms of licenses issued, Gazprom and Zarubezhneftegaz completed the first stage of geological survey and decided to drill test wells.

The Venezuelan side signed the contracts for development of a General Scheme for the Venezuela’s Gas Sector Development and Framework Agreement to provide wide range of engineering and consulting services.