Eni eyes fast development for Venezuela's oilfield Junin 5
Eni eyes fast development for Venezuela's oilfield Junin 5 By Francesca Landini
MILAN, July 29 (Reuters) - Italy's Eni ENI.MI is negotiating new contracts for its oil and gas projects in Venezuela and expects fast development for the Junin 5 oilfield once investment restarts, the energy group's CEO said on Wednesday.
Venezuela, which has opened up to foreign energy groups after the U.S. ousted socialist President Nicolas Maduro in January, is seen as a promising alternative for upstream activities to the war-ravaged Middle East.
"We are discussing very well with the (Venezuelan) minister and (state oil company) PDVSA. Clearly, also with our American partners... we have a big potential, we have one of the best blocks: Junin 5," Eni's Claudio Descalzi said in a post-results call.
Junin 5 production could increase to a plateau level of 200,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from current 12,000, Eni said in one of the slides presenting its second-quarter results.
Eni and other partners of Venezuela's PDVSA are in negotiations to migrate previous contracts to the new legal framework approved by Venezuela's National Assembly in late January.
The Eni CEO said investing in Junin 5 would get quick results.
"It's not really a standard upstream project where you have to invest for four or five years... it will be very fast," he said, adding the group aimed to sign a production sharing contract and not a joint venture on the oilfield.
Eni has been present in Venezuela since 1998 and is partnering with PDVSA on the Junin 5 project in the Orinoco, which holds some 35 billion barrels of certified oil in place, and in the Petrosucre project, which produces crude in shallow waters.
Eni also has a partnership with Spain's Repsol REP.MC for the large Cardon IV offshore gas project.
(Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Alvise Armellini)
((francesca.landini@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 66129437; Reuters Messaging: reutersitaly.thomsonreuters@reuters.net/))