Repsol Plans $700 Mln Oil Investment in Venezuela Through 2008

June 10 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Repsol YPF SA, Europe's fifth-largest oil company, plans to invest as much as $700 million in Venezuela through 2008 to boost oil production in the South American country.

Miguel Angel Remon, Repsol's vice-president for exploration and production, discussed the investment during a presentation yesterday in Madrid, a Repsol press officer said. Remon didn't provide further details.

The newspaper Expansion today reported that Repsol is in talks with the Venezuelan government to invest about $700 million in an oil project that would double its production in the country.

Madrid-based Repsol may buy as much as 49 percent of a drilling project on the east side of Lake Maracaibo that has a potential output of 250,000 barrels a day, the newspaper said, citing Venezuelan energy officials who visited Madrid yesterday. Repsol currently produces about 100,000 barrels a day in Venezuela, Expansion said.

Repsol in April said it planned to invest an average 3.5 billion euros annually in coming years to boost output in Latin America and North Africa and expand its natural gas business.