Venezuela Invites Vietnam to Study Orinoco Heavy Oil Block
Caracas (Platts) 8 October 2006 Venezuelan and Vietnamese officials have signed a deal to study and quantify reserves at the Junin 2 block in Venezuela’s Orinoco heavy oil belt, the Venezuelan energy ministry said late Friday in a statement. Among the attendees at the signing ceremony on Friday in Caracas were Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan energy minister Rafael Ramirez and Vietnamese industry minister Hoang Trung Hai. According to other various energy cooperation agreements signed on Friday, the two countries will also develop projects in E&P, oil tanker construction, commerce, supply, storage and transportation. They will also study the possibility of building a new refinery together in Vietnam, the statement said. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and Vietnamese state oil company Petrovietnam showed special interest in cooperating to build oil tankers, the statement said. Petrovietnam is also interested in using Venezuela’s HDH Plus technology t...