Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and Chevron will jointly develop an offshore natural gas field that spans the maritime borders of Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.
The joint venture will explore the largest of the three shared fields between the two countries, the Loran-Manatee bloc, Venezuela’s Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said at the signing ceremony Wednesday.
The Loran-Manatee field has proven natural gas reserves of over 10 trillion cubic feet.
Under a field-sharing agreement, 73.75 percent belongs to Venezuela and the rest to Trinidad and Tobago.
Minister Ramirez did not specify when work would begin with the PDVSA-Chevron joint venture.
Under their joint venture terms, PDVSA will build a 170 mile gas pipeline from the Loran-Manatee bloc to the Paria Peninsula on the Venezuelan coast.
The Paria Peninsula is the focus of a high profile but long delayed Venezuelan offshore natural gas project called Mariscal Sucre. Gas reserves are estimated at 14.7 trillion cubic feet in this area.
Chevron already had six onshore and offshore projects in Venezuela, all with PDVSA.
