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REPEAT-Total, CNPC to bid on Venezuela oil blocks-WSJ

Sat Jul 4, 2009 1:17pm EDT

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(Repeats to widen distribution)

NEW YORK, July 4 (Reuters) - France's Total SA (TOTF.PA) and China National Petroleum Corp plan to bid for two large oil blocks being auctioned in Venezuela, instead of one in which they had already shown interest, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people involved in the bidding round.

The sources put the cost of developing just one of the two blocks plus building a processing unit to clean up the sludge-like oil from it at $7 billion to $10 billion or more, according to the report.

The blocks are in the Carabobo region of Venezuela's Orinoco oil belt.

According to the report, Oil minister Rafael Ramirez has said sealed bids must be handed in by July 28, and that the results would be announced on August 14.

Under the rules, state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA will retain at least 60 percent of each block. Bidders need to pay Venezuela's government an upfront bonus based on expected future output, and explain their oil distribution plan, according to the report.



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