By Valery Sidorchikov
This year, the Belarusian-Venezuelan joint venture is to produce 1.35m tonnes of oil (up 600,000 tonnes on 2010) and 835m cubic metres of associated gas (up 320m cubic metres). Analysing the forecast for gas production in Venezuela in 2011, specialists note that volumes could quadruple those of Belarusian deposits.
The expansion of Petrolera BeloVenezolana’s operations is primarily due to additional deposits being allocated to the company. At the beginning of last year, the joint venture had five oil deposits. During 2010, a license was granted to extract gas at six deposits. In December 2010, the President of Venezuela signed a decree to grant another two oil deposits to the joint venture.
Venezuela is second only to Belarus as Belorusneft’s most important oil production centre. Co-operation in other oil-related areas is gaining momentum. For example, in 2010, two Belarusian teams repaired 44 underground wells in Venezuela, resulting in additional production of 21,600 tonnes of oil. Seismological joint venture Sismica BeloVenezolana is also expanding operations, carrying out seismic surveys in the Orinoco River basin. The venture’s new office introduces innovative technologies developed by the Research and Development Bureau of Belorusneft: BelNIPIneft.
