A Russian consortium has paid one billion dollars to Venezuela to assure participation in exploiting the Orinoco oil fields, among the world's largest, officials said Sunday.
The group of five Russian firms -- Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom, TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz -- paid "for access to exploit the reserves with us," the South American nation's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said Ramirez said on President Hugo Chavez's radio show.
On Saturday Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said production on the massive Junin 6 heavy crude oil block would begin by 2012, and that the Orinoco-based operation would produce "between 400,000 and 450,000 barrels of crude a day."
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