Junin-6 Oil Block Holds over 52 Billion Barrels of Crude

 

February 03, 2010 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Venezuelan state oil company and a Russian consortium signed a joint-venture contract for developing the giant ORINOCO oil field at Junin-6 block, in central parts of Venezuela last Monday. Russian state news agency Itar-Tass reported.  

 

The contract worth nearly 16 billion euros involving the Venezuelan state oil company-Petroleos de Venezuela, and the National Oil Consortium including Gazprom Neft, Rosneft, Lukoil, TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz.

 

Venezuela, an oil rich Latin American country, has successfully expanded  cooperation with non-American partners in recent years, prompting an angry response from Washington, which always seeks lucrative energy contracts from overseas markets.

 

Orinoco oil belt - a gigantic reservoir in Venezuela - holds an estimated 235 billion barrels of heavy and super-heavy crude oil. The junin-6 block is an oilfield covering an area of 447.7 square kilometers with reserves of at least 52 billion barrels of crude. Venezuela and Russia each hold 60 and 40 percent shares of the contract, respectively.