Billionaire Arthur Eze has won multi million dollar contracts to develop two offshore natural gas prospects in the South American country.
Arthur Eze’s Oranto Petroleum is a major player in the industry in Africa.
This is a major move to mainstream the company in the global oil business
Venezuelan state-owned PDVSA and Veneoranto Petroleum Ltd.,a subsidiary of Oranto Petroleum recently signed the agreement to start the development of two natural gas prospects in the areas of Barracuda, located in territorial waters of the Gulf of Venezuela bordering Colombia, and Boca de Serpiente, located in Delta Amacuro state, bordering a territory under claim by Guyana.
“I am pleased that the investment process for gas production from the Deltana platform has been accelerated. Very soon we will be exporting gas to Africa,” said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was present at the signing of the agreement Aug. 8 in Caracas. The agreement was signed by the Minister of Petroleum and President of PDVSA, Pedro Rafael Tellechea, and the representative of Veneoranto Petroleum Limited, Arthur Eze.
Veneoranto is the subsidiary created in Venezuela by Atlas Oranto, a company deep in the oil and natural gas area which is owned by the multibillionaire Arthur Eze.
The offshore prospect called Barracuda in the Gulf of Venezuela, is estimated to have reserves of 20 Tcf of natural gas and about 2 trillion barrels of condensate, according to available official information.
According to studies PDVSA carried out between 2013 and 2014, this prospect could be larger than the Cardón IV field, where the Italian ENI and the Spanish Repsol made an important gas and condensate discovery in 2009.
PDVSA is seeking investors for 25 development opportunities in offshore Gulf of Venezuela waters, which have the advantage of nearby onshore infrastructure, the Paraguaná Peninsula, where the two major refineries Amuay and Cardón are located, according to previous reports.
Colombia and Venezuela share an extensive 2,219-km land border. They also share a maritime border over which there are territorial disputes.
Details of the Boca de Serpiente prospect, located in the area known as Plataforma Deltana, are not available. The prospect is located about 200 km from the neighboring island of Trinidad and Tobago, and borders the Atlantic Ocean and the area under claim with Guyana.
Official figures show that Venezuela has massive proven reserves of 303 billion barrels of oil and 200 Tcf of natural gas.
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