Spain's Repsol Provides $1.2B Credit Line For Venezuela Oil JV

by  Reuters

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Friday, October 07, 2016

inShare16   CARACAS, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Spain's Repsol is providing a credit line of up to $1.2 billion to boost oil output at a joint venture it runs with Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, the companies announced on Friday. The funds will be used for the Petroquiriquire joint venture, where PDVSA has a 60 percent stake and Repsol the rest. Annual production at the three fields in the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Monagas currently averages some 41,600 barrels per day, according to Repsol. "Today we've achieved, after very long conversations, a financing deal that will allow us to double production," said PDVSA President Eulogio Del Pino after a signing ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace in the capital Caracas. He said production was around 30,000 bpd. Repsol confirmed the agreement, whose negotiations began three years ago. "This agreement entails a credit line that will be used for investments at Petroquiriquire in the next five years," the company said in a statement later on Friday, mentioning drilling and well-reactiviation projects. The fine print of the agreement was not disclosed. OPEC member Venezuela is reeling from low oil prices and a dysfunctional state-led economy that has plunged it into a deep recession and caused a tumble in crude output this year. Cash-strapped PDVSA is looking for fresh investments from foreign companies as it seeks to stop the output fall. (Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) Copyright 2016 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.