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VN, Venezuela boost petroleum cooperation

Vietnam and Venezuela have signed a number of agreements on oil and gas cooperation.
Vietnam and Venezuela have signed a number of agreements on oil and gas cooperation.

The agreements were signed in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 13 byChairman of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) DinhLa Thang and Venezuelan Minister for Energy and Petroleum and Presidentof the Venezuelan State Oil Company PDVSA Rafael Ramirez.

The two leaders formalised PDVSA’s involvement in expanding the DungQuat Oil Refinery in Vietnam by refining 100,000 barrels of oil perday taken from the Junin 2 bloc of Venezuela ’s Orinoco Oil Belt, theworld’s largest oil reserve.

They also assessed thepossibility of its joint venture Petromacareo to begin tapping the Junin2 oil field six months ahead of schedule.

Petromacareo is scheduled to tap the Junin 2 field from the thirdquarter of 2012 with a daily capacity of 50,000 barrels which isexpected to be quadrupled after two years.

The twoleaders discussed three potential cooperation agreements, includingPetroVietnam’s assistance to PDVSA in product distribution in Asia .

PetroVietnam is a strategic partner and one of the first companiescooperating with PDVSA in projects to develop the Orinoco Oil Belt,PDVSA said on its website./.
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