Russia and Venezuela Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing a joint venture to develop oil in the South American country's Orinoco oil belt, the Ria Novosti news agency reported.
Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA, and a consortium of major Russian producers OAO Rosneft (ROSN.RS), OAO Lukoil Holdings (LKOH.RS), OAO Gazprom Neft (SIBN.RS), TNK-BP Ltd. and OAO Surgutneftegaz (SNGS.RS) signed the memorandum to jointly develop the Junin-6 field in Venezuela's Orinoco heavy crude oil belt.
PdVSA also signed agreements with Russian oil pipeline operator OAO Transneft (TRNFP.RS) to build infrastructure in the Orinoco belt and another deal with state-controlled Rosneft.
The deals were signed during Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' two-day visit to Moscow.