Foreign oil companies could invest as much as $1 billion in new oil fields

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2003 By: VenAmCham

Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez  says foreign oil companies could invest as much as a billion dollars to develop new oil fields in Venezuela. ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total Fina Elf, and Statoil are among companies operating in Venezuela that may develop the Tomoporo field with an estimated 1.5 billion barrels of light and medium crude, according to state news agency Venpres.

Another two fields with an estimated billion barrels of oil have also been added to the development plans, Ramirez says ... the Tomoporo field's discovery was announced last week by Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) director Luis Marin.

President Hugo Chavez has fired more than 16,000 of the PDVSA's 40,000 employees after they staged a strike demanding his resignation. At one time Venezuela's oil output fell to less than 200,000 barrels per day, from a 3 million barrel per day average last November. Current production volume is thought to be 2.4-2.8 million barrel per day with exports exceeding 2 million barrels per day.