PDVSA (Venezuela) To Tender Seven Offshore Blocks

Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA could tender exploration and production licenses on seven offshore natural gas blocks in eastern Venezuela in 2006, according to a Business News: Americas report. In the Deltana Platform area there are five blocks, with two in the Gulf of Paria. There are plans to accelerate offshore exploitation, for which licenses are required. PDVSA will partner with Brazil's federal energy company Petrobras to explore four other blocks in the Mariscal Sucre region, according to the report. PDVSA recently awarded three offshore gas blocks in western Venezuela in the second phase of the Rafael Urdaneta project but plans to carry out more seismic studies in the area before restarting the project in 2007. PDVSA currently produces about 6.5 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas, but could rise to 8 billion by the end of 2006. Source: Business News: Americas