CARACAS -- Venezuelan state energy giant Petroleos de Venezuela
SA said Tuesday that it signed a deal with Russia's Gazprombank to
provide $1 billion to their Petrozamora joint oil venture in the
South American country.
The funds will go toward development of oil extraction plans at
the Lagunillas and Bachaquero fields in Venezuela's western state
of Zulia. Petrozamora, which operates the fields, produced an
average of 65,100 barrels of oil a day in the first three months of
this year, PdVSA, as the Venezuelan state-run company is known,
said in a statement.
PdVSA has a 60% stake in Petrozamora, while Gazprombank holds
the rest.
The financing agreement is the latest in a string of deals
struck by PdVSA with its partners in recent months -- securing
nearly $10 billion -- as Venezuela looks to move forward with
ambitious plans to raise oil output in the next few years.
The deal with Gazprombank is one of five accords signed between
leaders of both countries during Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro's trip to Russia this week to attend a summit of global
natural gas producers.
Among them, PdVSA said it worked a deal with Russian oil company
Rosneft (ROSN.RS) for gas exploration and production projects in
Venezuela's Mariscal Sucre and Deltana shelf offshore fields.
Write to Kejal Vyas at kejal.vyas@dowjones.com
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