MOSCOW (MRC) -- India's Reliance Industries is considering expanding its presence in resources-rich Venezuela with potential participation in more projects in the South American country, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with refernece to officials from both parties' statement.
Venezuela is looking for Reliance's collaboration on the construction of the USD10 billion Cabruta refinery, development of the Junin 1 bloc in the Orinoco heavy oil belt, as well as an expansion of the Petroanzoategui upgrader facility, said Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, who also heads state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA.
Neither side gave specific details on the potential joint ventures and said they expected to define terms of the deals in the upcoming months.
Through an oil supply deal, Venezuela ships around 320,000 bpd of heavy crude to India's Jamnagar refinery. It accounts for about 70% Of Reliance's heavy oil supply and about 12% of India's overall consumption, Mr. Ramirez said.
As MRC wrote previously, Reliance Industries plans to expand capacity at its refineries in the western state of Gujarat. Earlier this year, Reliance unveiled an USD18 billion investment plan for India over the next five years.
Reliance Industries is one of the world"s largest producers of polymers. The company"s polymer production in 2010-11 (polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride) made 4,094 kilo tonnes.
MRC