BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/07/2007

Accord with Belarus endangers bidding of mature oilfields

The so-called round of mature oilfields, under which the Venezuelan Ministry of Energy and Petroleum pledged to deliver a batch of areas for oil prospecting and drilling, has become a promise the private sector is longing for, following migration to joint ventures with state oil giant Pdvsa where many oil firms have lost a part of their assets.

However, execution by Pdvsa and Belarus state firm Belarusneft of "a commitment for prospecting and drilling mature oilfields in the areas of Guara Este and Block 10 of Lago Medio" came surprisingly for private investors. They claim that such accord may undermine a bidding process on equal grounds for all bidders.

During the process to migrate from operations dating back to the oil opening process to joint ventures where the Venezuelan State holds a majority stake, no bidding process has been launched for exploitation of oilfields. The only choice the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has offered to oil firms operating in Venezuela are gas areas, which involve high exploration risks.

While they conceded that the Venezuelan State has the power to choose any given methodology to select the firms that are to hold a stake in mature oilfields, oil companies operating in Venezuela wonder what is the role they are going to play in the country in the future, given reduction of their activities.

Source:

http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/07/17/en_eco_art_accord-with-belarus_17A900747.shtml

Google