Total, Venezuela sign study agreement

[Judi Lynn]

Caracas, Monday February 04 , 2008
Total, Venezuela sign study agreement

Total SA, France's biggest oil producer, agreed with Venezuelan state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) to survey oil reserves at the Junin fields, located in the Orinoco oil belt, Bloomberg reported.

"We have here a new framework,'' Total's Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie said on Sunday in an interview in Vienna. De Margerie said last year's dispute with Venezuela over Sincor, a separate block in the oil belt, was solved. Total lost 16.7 percent of the shares and operating control over the project, now known as Petrocedeño, after the Venezuelan government requested the company to migrate to a joint venture.

According to Reuters, the agreements call for appraising the Junin's extra-heavy crude oil reserves and examining a project to produce extra-heavy oil.

Total will invest "a large amount of money" to maintain current production in Venezuela, de Margerie said. The company is currently producing about 180,000 barrels a day there, he said.

http://english.eluniversal.com/2008/02/04/en_eco_art_total,-venezuela-sig_04A1346879.shtml