OREANDA-NEWS. March 29, 2011. Two oil deposits have been attached to the Belarusian-Venezuelan oil extraction company Petrolera BeloVenesolana, representatives of the Belarusian state-run oil corporation Belorusneft said.

The oil deposits are located in western Venezuela near Lake Maracaibo, said the source.

On 22 March 2011 President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez decreed that the company may start extracting oil from these two deposits. The company is supposed to extract over 1 million tonnes of oil in 2011 using seven deposits. In 2008-2010 the company extracted over 2 million tonnes of oil. The company also operates six natural gas deposits.

The joint venture Petrolera BeloVenesolana was set up in December 2007, with Belarus’ share at 40%. For Belorusneft company Venezuela is the second most important oil extraction region after Belarus. Joint efforts in other areas of the oil extraction industry are successful, too. For instance, in 2010 two Belarusian teams carried out 44 underground repairs and major overhauls of boreholes, securing the extraction of 21,600 tonnes of oil as extra.

The manufacturing corporation Belorusneft was set up in 1966. It is part of the state-run petrochemical concern Belneftekhim. Belorusneft surveys and explores oil deposits, drills wells, extracts oil and associated petroleum gas.