CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s national legislature approved the creation of a joint venture between state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela and National Oil Consortium to pump as much as 450,000 barrels of crude a day.
The group will pay a $1 billion signing bonus and get a 40 percent stake in the venture, which will drill the Junin 6 block of Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt, the legislature said. The Orinoco is Venezuela’s richest oil province, with more than a trillion barrels in place.
PDVSA, as the Venezuelan company is known, previously agreed to terms with the owners of National Oil Consortium, Gazprom, Rosneft, Surgutneftegaz, TNK-BP and LUKoil.
The legislature separately gave new rights to a joint venture between PDVSA and Belarussian firm Belarusneft. The venture can now drill gas that is not associated with crude oil, it said.
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