Venezuela says no new Orinoco areas after Carabobo

* Venezuela won't assign new Orinoco areas after Carabobo

* Carabobo bids to be accepted in January

CARACAS, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Venezuela will not assign any new areas in the Orinoco oil belt after it completes an auction for its Carabobo project, the Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA said on Thursday.

The company said in a statement it would accept offers for the seven blocks in the Carabobo project in January, putting a date on a bidding process that has been repeatedly delayed.

Venezuela Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez met with representatives from companies interested in participating in Carabobo on Wednesday and outlined other Orinoco projects Venezuela is working on with Russia, China and Vietnam, the statement said.

"Once those projects are finished, no new areas will be assigned and PDVSA will focus on developing these blocks, which should help increase production to 2.8 million barrels a day," PDVSA said.

On Wednesday, a source close to the talks told Reuters Venezuela is studying changes in the royalties scheme for Carabobo in what could be the first time President Hugo Chavez lowers levies on energy production by foreign companies. [ID:nN30241324]

The Carabobo Project aims to build three upgraders to turn the Orinoco belt's tar-like crude into oil for exports and produce around 1.2 million barrels per day, with the initial investment seen between $10 billion and $20 billion per area.

Companies that have shown interest in the tender include Britain's BP (BP.L), U.S.-based Chevron (CVX.N), China's state-owned CNPC, Spain's Repsol YPF (REP.MC), France's Total (TOTF.PA), Italian ENI (ENI.MI) and Portugal's Galp Energia (GALP.LS). (Reporting by Fabian Andres Cambero; Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Marguerita Choy)