Three Russia's major oil companies signed separate deals on exploration and evaluation of different oil blocks in Venezuela with Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA, Tuesday during Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' visit to Moscow.
Russia's state gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) will jointly conduct an evaluation of the Ayacucho-3 block in Venezuela's Orinoco basin with PdVSA, a Gazprom spokesman said.
Lukoil Overseas, a subsidiary of Russia's oil company Lukoil Holding (LKOH.RS) signed a deal on the joint evaluation of the Junin-3 extra-heavy oil block in Orinoco basin, the company said.
The agreement fell short of creating a joint venture to produce oil at Junin-3, but hopefully it will be signed in the future, a person familiar with matter said. PdVSA and Lukoil Overseas started exploration drilling at the Junin-3 block in December, 2006.
Anglo-Russian joint venture TNK-BP (TNBP.RS) signed a similar deal on the Ayacucho-2 block.