OREANDA-NEWS. April 2, 2008. Production Association Belorusneft expands its activities in Venezuela. In the near future two maintenance crews will be sent to Venezuela. They will provide maintenance services for the Belarusian-Venezuelan joint oil production venture, BelTA learnt from Belorusneft deputy director general for economy Leonid Voitekhin.

According to him, this decision was taken by both the sides. The main goal of maintenance groups is to provide the development of oil wells and to increase
reservoir recovery. Among their duties will be well-boring and overhaul. In their work they use the most advanced technologies.

Speaking about the joint venture, Leonid Voitekhin said that the Belarusian specialists have already finished the study of the three oil wells which the Venezuelan side proposed to assign for the joint venture.
According to preliminary estimates, the oil wells are very promising. The Venezuelan-Belarusian joint venture was set up in December 2007. It has been assigned the Guara Este and Lagomedio oil deposits. However, to be able to produce the planned amount of oil, the joint venture needs additional resources. Once the joint venture gets three more oil wells, it will be able to produce one million tonne of oil per year.

More than 50 Belorusneft employees are currently working in Venezuela, most of them – for the joint ventures engaged in oil production and exploration seismology. One of the scientific teams is studying geological materials to be able to assess oil deposits in the eastern part of the country. According to Leonid Voitekhin, it is very important for Venezuela to confirm availability of oil deposits on the territories not exploited yet, to carry out their certification and therefore to get international recognition.