Russia's Putin wants Venezuela's Chavez to visit

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was looking forward to meeting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Moscow again to discuss Russian energy and infrastructure interests.

Putin made the comments to visiting Venezuelan vice-president, Ramon Carrizales, but did not name a date for a visit by Chavez, who earlier this year postponed trips to Moscow, Belarus and China.

"The day before yesterday I had the pleasure to speak with the president of Venezuela, Mister Chavez. We look forward to his visit to Russia and to Moscow," Putin said.

The president of Russia's second-largest oil company, LUKOIL , told Russian newspaper Kommersant in an interview published on Thursday that delays at its oil production sites in Venezuela were also delaying its refinery business in Cuba.

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Putin named Gazprom, LUKOIL and state railway monopoly Russian Railways as Russian companies interested in increasing investment in Venezuela.

"Unfortunately, the volume of trade and economic ties and the volume of mutual investments is not very big," he said.

Venezuela is also a large buyer of Russian military equipment.

(Reporting by Denis Dyomkin, writing by James Kilner)