Venezuela delays final conditions for Carabobo bid

CARACAS, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Venezuela failed to meet its Thursday deadline to finalize the conditions of the Carabobo oil project tender in the country's Orinoco heavy oil belt, private sector sources involved in the process said Friday.

The OPEC nation had said it would present the final terms of the project to potential bidders on Thursday, but that process has now been delayed until next week, the sources said.

The Carabobo project, now to be auctioned in January, has already been met with significant hold ups.

Venezuela recently sweetened the terms of the tender by reducing the royalty rate and extending the timeline for production from the project, and oil companies interested in the bid had been expecting confirmation of those terms on Thursday. [ID:nN30419832]

The energy ministry told some of the 18 companies participating in the process that the document is now awaiting the signature of Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez.

One of the sources said he was expecting the document to be presented by "Tuesday or Wednesday" next week.

The massive heavy crude project will involve seven areas in the Carabobo, each of which is expected to require an investment of between $10 billion and $20 billion dollars.

Among those interested in the Carabobo tender are Britain's BP (BP.L), U.S.-based Chevron (CVX.N), China's state oil company CNPC, France's Total (TOTF.PA), Italy's ENI (ENI.MI) and Portugal's Galp Energia (GALP.LS), as well as consortiums of Russian and Japanese businesses. [ID:nN06184958] (Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Writing by Rebekah Kebede; editing by Jim Marshall)