OREANDA-NEWS. The People's Minister for Petroleum and Mining and President of Petroleos de Venezuela , SA (PDVSA ), Rafael Ramirez reiterated that all investments into the country to increase oil production has to be considered to the benchmark rate of Sicad .

The owner of Petroleum and Mining said that convertibility rate applied to new fields of the Orinoco Oil Belt (FPO ) and to other fields where additional activities are needed in order to increase production, as the Boscan field in Zulia state , for example, where it is planned to bring production of 107,000 to 127,000 barrels per day.

The also vice president from the Economic Area recalled that FPO at this time requires building new skills, new wells , involving large investments. Every new barrel generated means an investment of over a hundred million. To meet these investment needs, the resources that come with that purpose will have Sicad benchmark rate.

As regards the alleged intention to withdraw from the company Petrovietnam of Petromacareo , where it owns 40 % stake to operate the Junin 2 block of the FPO , the Minister said that the president of the Vietnamese company had already ruled denying that claim.

Also he confirmed the interest of the Indian company Reliance taking participation of Petronas in Petrocarabobo , which it had 11%; he added that the Indian company , which is one of the most important companies in the Asian country it is also promoting its entry into the block Ayacucho 8, where it is referred to further expansion of the breeder .

On the other hand , he confirmed that it still stands the signing of financing agreement for 1,200 million with Repsol to increase production at the joint venture Petroquiriquire . The purpose of this agreement is to increase production by at least 75,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) , from 40 000 generated today, to raise it to more than 100 thousand bpd.