FACTBOX-Oil company ventures eye Venezuela's Carabobo
Nov 5 (Reuters) - At least five consortiums of international oil companies are set to bid on Venezuela's giant Carabobo heavy crude project, according to sources involved in the process.
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Carabobo is an integral part of the OPEC nation's plan to develop its substantial oil reserves in the Orinoco region. It hopes this will boost national production by 40 percent from 3.04 million bpd to 4.25 million barrels per day by 2015.
The following is the list of consortiums expected to bid on the Carabobo tender in January:
* China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will partner with the French Total (TOTF.PA). Both companies already have projects in the Orinoco belt.
* CNPC will also bid separately with Sinopec, another Chinese company.
* Chevron (CVX.N), currently partnering with Venezuela's PDVSA in the Orinoco, will partner with three Japonese companies and the Venezuelan Suelopetrol.
* Spain's (REP.MC) will partner with Malaysia's Petronas and India's ONGC.
* The Portuguese Galp Energia is negotiating a partnership with Norway's Statoil STO.OL. Petrobras had considered bidding with Galp and Statoil, but the likelihood of that has dimished in the last few weeks.
* British BP (BP.L), will likely bid alone.
* British-Dutch Shell RDSa.L, which has not yet made a firm decision, will also bid alone if it decides to participate in the tender.
* Russian participation in the tender is unlikely due the commitments it has made to develop other areas of the Orinoco. (Writing by Rebekah Kebede; Editing by David Gregorio)
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