Venezuela postpones Orinoco oil tender again

CABRUTICA, Venezuela, July 27 (Reuters) - Venezuela has postponed the tender of its Carabobo heavy crude blocks in the Orinoco oil belt, energy minister Rafael Ramirez said on Monday.

"It's been delayed because companies have asked for more time to analyze, form consortiums and it seems reasonable to us," Ramirez told reporters.

Authorities were working on a new timeline for the bidding process, said Ramirez, who is also president of state-owned oil company PDVSA.

The deadline for companies to present their offers for the project expires this week. It would be the first tender since the government nationalized several projects in the Orinoco belt.

Among the interested companies are state-run China National Petroleum Corp, France's Total (TOTF.PA), Chevron (CVX.N) of the United States, Colombia's Ecopetrol ECO.CN, Malaysia's Petronas (PETR.KL), Spain's Repsol (REP.MC), Portugal's Galp Energy (GALP.LS), Brazil's Petrobras (PETR4.SA) and Norway's Statoil (STL.OL). (Reporting by Marianna Párraga; translating by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Marguerita Choy)