Russia and Venezuela signed a deal to jointly develop the Junin 6 oil field in the Latin American state, the Venezuelan Energy Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The proven reserves of the oil field, located in the Orinoco oil belt, are estimated at 53 billion barrels. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Venezuela's Orinoco oil belt holds 513 billion barrels of recoverable heavy crude.
The joint venture plans to extract 50,000 barrels of oil per day this year, with a planned nine-fold increase to 450,000 barrels per day.
Last September, Venezuela's state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) and the Russian Oil Consortium, comprising Rosneft, energy monopoly Gazprom, Lukoil, TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz, signed a memorandum of understanding on the Junin 6 project.
The parliament of Venezuela approved the deal on March 10.
PdVSA will get a 60%-stake in the joint venture, with the rest owned by the Russian consortium.
Venezuela has the largest proven reserves outside of the Middle East.
MEXICO, April 1 (RIA Novosti)