PDVSA, Repsol to create E&P joint venture

Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA and Spain's Repsol YPF (NYSE: REP) will sign an agreement on Wednesday (Mar.30) in Caracas to form a 51-49 joint venture, Repsol YPF said in a statement. Repsol YPF said that the stake will allow it to "expand." The JV will operate in the Mene Grande, Quiriquire, Quiamare-La Ceiba, Barúa-Motatan, Ceuta-Tomoporo and Orocual fields, most of which are in Zulia state, and will allow Repsol YPF to increase its current net production of 100,000 barrels a day (b/d) in Venezuela by 60% to 160,000b/d. LNG The crude exploration and production agreement is just the first of four such agreements to be signed by energy and oil minister and PDVSA president Rafael Ramírez and Repsol YPF president Antonio Brufau. PDVSA and Repsol will also study the feasibility of building a natural gas liquefaction plant. Repsol YPF would also get licenses to one or several natural gas projects, including Gran Mariscal Sucre, one of Venezuela's largest projects. The third agreement concerns a thermoelectric power project at Obispos in Barinas state, where Repsol is already operating.