By Patricia Avila
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - State-run energy company Ancap should be able to cut fuel prices in Uruguay when a joint exploration project with Venezuelan giant PDVSA comes on line, the firm's president said on Thursday.
Ancap, which refines oil and sells fuels in the South American country, signed a deal last year with PDVSA to explore in Venezuela's Orinoco oil region and increase capacity at the La Teja refinery near Montevideo by 20 percent.
Uruguay, which has no oil reserves of its own, must import all the crude it refines. It uses about 43,000 barrels per day, and the Orinoco project should give it a daily supply of 50,000 bpd, Ancap President Daniel Martinez told the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit in Montevideo.
"We're going to have 50,000 bpd arriving, and they're going to be cheap," Martinez said, adding that the Orinoco project is not expected to bear fruit for about seven years.
"It's not free oil. We're going to pay royalties and taxes, (and) we'll be left with a margin of 10, 15 or 20 percent," he added. "We're going to have a surplus of about 17,000 bpd (or) a little less," he said.
Ancap, which has a monopoly in oil-refining in the country, currently raises and cuts domestic fuel prices in accordance with international oil prices. .
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