President Hugo Chávez Thursday announced form Brazil that a partnership agreement between Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) and Petrobras was signed.

"We signed a contract under which Pdvsa -with a 40 percent stake- became a partner of Petrobras to build the great bi-national oil refinery (Abreu e Lima). And we have made some progress in reviewing the conditions for Petrobras inclusion in the Orinoco oil belt," said Chávez.

Regarding reports Wednesday that denied the signing of this agreement, Chávez said that besides being "pessimistic" news, such claims echoed the "fifth column that is alive and kicking in Latin America."

Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula Da Silva said that rather than an agreement, the contract was a "message to the world," because "even though we are poor, we have pride and are aware of our sovereignty."