Venezuela, Vietnam expect Orinoco oil in 18 months

CARACAS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The state-run oil companies of Venezuela and Vietnam expect to begin extracting heavy crude from the South American country's Orinoco region in 18 months, a Venezuelan official said on Monday.

Petrovietnam holds a 40 percent stake in a joint venture with PDVSA for crude exploration and production in the Junin 2 block of the Orinoco oil belt, which Venezuelan officials say holds some of the world's largest hydrocarbon reserves.

The project between the two firms has a heavy crude production potential of 200,000 barrels a day, with half expected to be destined to a refinery Petrovietnam is building in Vietnam.

"The company is up and running and we expect to begin the process of crude production in 18 months," PDVSA Vice President Eulogio Del Pino said in a statement after meeting with the head of Petrovietnam in Caracas. (Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel; Writing by Kevin Gray; editing by Carol Bishopric)