Belarus freezes oil projects in Venezuela
- 4.08.2009, 13:55
“Belarusneft” has frozen participation in the project “Junin-1” in Venezuela. It is unprofitable to build oil derricks any more.
It has been demonstrated by additional analysis of the business plan. Thus information has been confirmed to “Ezhadnevnik” by the head of international projects department of “Belarusneft” Andrei Bokhan. As said by him, when elaboration of the project started, prices for energy resources were higher than at present. So the decision to freeze works on Junin-1 has been adopted.
As we have informed, geological investigations of Junin-1 promising block situated in the Orinoco basin, were started in 2008. Belarusian experts helped to drill 5 oil wells, and necessary seismic works done.
In October 2008 in Houston (US) the process of summing up and certification of the field reserves was finished. According to the US experts, the total field reserves of the 4 oil deposits of Junin-1 make about 6 bn tons. Right after certification of the field reserves the joint Belarusian-Venezuelan group started to create a business-plan which is to give an answer to the question whether Belarusian presence in the region of the Orinoco makes economic sense.
At the same time Andrei Bokhan underlined that “this project is not frozen”.
Suspension of works in Junin-1, though a special joint venture had been planned to create to extract oil there, hasn’t affected activities of the joint enterprise Petrolera BeloVenesolana which works in Venezuela since December 2007. Its founders are “Belorusneft” and the National Oil company of Venezuela.
As “Belneftekhim” concern informs, two fields belonging to the joint venture (Guara Este and Lago Media block X) in the H1 of 2009 240.3 thousand tons of oil were extracted. Belneftekhim has also confirmed that in early July 2009 a decision to give Petrolera BeloVenesolana three additional oil fields. Preliminary agreement on that was reached during Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s visit to Venezuela in December 2007. And memorandum on adding three fields to the joint venture assets was signed during the return visit of Hugo Chavez in July 2008.
Since November 2007 a joint venture Sisimika BeloVenesolana works in the oil industry of Venezuela. In is engaged in seismic exploration work. By the end of 2008 it was planned to create a service structure which would be engaged in maintenance overhaul of derricks, belonging to joint ventures.
The head of the department of joint international projects of “Belorusneft” Andrei Bokhan confirmed that in the end of the last year there were problems with its registration. This project was frozen because a necessary sum of money was absent. However, as said by A. Bokhan, at present talks on creation of a service enterprise have been resumed.