Russia and Venezuela on September 26 signed two documents on energy cooperation following a meeting of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Russian energy monopoly Gazprom‘s CEO, Alexei Miller, and Venezuela’s energy and petroleum minister and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) company president, Rafael Ramirez, signed a memorandum of understanding on possible cooperation between the companies.
Meanwhile, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and Ramirez signed a memorandum of understanding on developing a special additional intergovernmental agreement in the energy sphere. Chavez said on September 26 that Russia and Venezuela were considering creating a joint oil and natural gas consortium.
Chavez said Gazprom and other Russian energy producers will join with PDVSA to work on projects around the world. “It’s a colossus being born,” Chavez said live on Venezuelan state television from Russia, which he was visiting for the second time in two months. The companies will combine “investment, exploration, exploitation, processing and commerce in energy, oil, gas and many other areas,” he said.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who is also chairman of oil company Rosneft, extended the invitation to PDVSA. LUKoil, Rosneft and TNK-BP will be the other members of the group, Chavez said.
Russian energy producers are already expanding abroad, including in Venezuela, where Gazprom and LUKoil are exploring oil fields in the Orinoco Belt. While PDVSA primarily operates in Venezuela, it owns Houston-based Citgo Petroleum and is searching for oil and gas in Ecuador and Bolivia.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Chavez in Moscow on September 25 that Russia was “ready to consider the possibility of cooperation in nuclear energy.” Putin made the nuclear offer after Russia last week delayed talks with the United States and other powers on fears Iran is developing nuclear weapons, concerns critics say have been exacerbated by civilian nuclear technology provided by Moscow.