Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft has expanded its upstream presence in Venezuela with the purchase of Lukoil's 8pc stake in PetroMiranda, a 450,000 b/d extra-heavy crude production joint venture in the Orinoco oil belt's Junin 6 section, the energy ministry said.
Rosneft said the purchase of Lukoil ‘s stake in PetroMiranda for an undisclosed sum will "substantially improve operational control and have a positive impact on the implementation of the Junin-6 project."
Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin said the Russian oil company continues to increase its upstream presence in Venezuela because "taking into account the future decline of shale production in the US and Canada…Venezuela owns the most prospective resource base in the world's oil industry."
The deal with Lukoil increases Rosneft's stake in PetroMiranda to 32pc. OAO Gazprom holds an 8pc stake, and PdV has a controlling 60pc stake in the Orinoco upstream joint venture that currently produces about 5,000 b/d of extra-heavy crude oil.
PdV currently estimates that reaching PetroMiranda's peak production of 450,000 b/d by 2020-21 will require over $25bn of total capital expenditures, of which Rosneft's expanded 32pc share now totals about $8bn.
Rosneft also holds minority stakes in four other joint ventures with PdV, including a 16.7pc stake in the 120,000 b/d PetroMonagas (formerly Cerro Negro) extra-heavy crude upgrader located at the Jose complex in Anzoategui state acquired in 2012 when Rosneft bought out TNK-BP.
PdV, which holds 83.3pc of PetroMiranda, has shown interest in raising Rosneft's stake in the upgrader to improve the operations and improve the financial prospects of boosting the upgrader's capacity to about 150,000 b/d, according to the energy ministry.
PdV and Rosneft also are 60-40 partners in Petroperija and Boqueron, two joint ventures that produce a combined 20,000 b/d from marginal oil fields in Zulia and Monagas states.
PdV and Rosneft also are 60-40 partners in PetroVictoria, a planned 400,000 b/d Orinoco joint venture in the oil belt's Carabobo section.
PetroVictoria, launched officially in 2013, is one of seven new Orinoco upstream joint ventures PdV created from 2010-13 to develop a combined 2.54mn b/d of new Orinoco extra-heavy crude production capacity in the oil belt by 2020. But development of PetroVictoria has not officially started, the energy ministry said.
Rosneft and PdV also signed agreements in 2013-14 to explore the creation of an offshore gas joint venture to develop the second stage of PdV's 1.2bn ft³/d Mariscal Sucre gas production project located in waters near the Paria peninsula.
Rosneft's increased stake in PetroMiranda is expected to accelerate the project's development from early 2015, energy ministry and PdV officials said.
Rosneft is committed to investing over $13bn in its Venezuelan ventures with PdV over the coming five years, PdV officials familiar with the Russian company's capex plans tell Argus.
But PetroMiranda's two Russian stakeholders — Rosneft and Gazprom — appear to share a more cautious view on the joint venture's prospects in 2015-16.
Gazprom's deputy chief financial officer Alexei Yakevich said last month in Moscow that PetroMiranda's Russian stakeholders will "determine in December 2017 whether to invest after additional prospecting is completed."
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