Venezuela approves Orinoco oil joint ventures

Engineers of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) stand inside the Kalol oil field in the western Indian state of Gujarat September 12, 2009.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has formally approved the creation of three joint ventures with foreign energy companies in the next step towards developing the OPEC nation's vast Orinoco extra heavy crude belt.

The Latin American country signed deals with several companies in February to exploit the reserves in the region, which are seen as some of the biggest deposits in the world.

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has a 60 percent stake in each of the projects, and the creation of the joint ventures including U.S., Spanish and Russian investors was announced in the government's Official Gazette on Friday.

The first, Petroindependencia, covers Carabobo Project 3, where Chevron(CVX.N) has a 34 percent stake. Reserves are seen at 66 billion barrels and output of around 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) is expected by 2013, PDVSA says.

The second joint venture, Petrocarabobo, covers Carabobo Project 1, where Spain's Repsol(REP.MC), India's ONGC(ONGC.BO) and Malaysia's Petronas will have 11 percent each. Reserves there are seen at 31 billion barrels.

The third, Petromiranda, will develop Junin Block 6, where the remaining 40 percent has been awarded to a Russian consortium of Rosneft, Gazprom, Lukoil, TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz.

In total, Venezuela hopes its plan to develop the Orinoco oil fields will add 2.1 million bpd of new production and bring the country some $80 billion in investment. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by David Gregorio)