A year after the government took control of oil operations in the Orinoco Oil Belt, Venezuelan energy authorities announced a package of investments that will double daily production in the area within the next five years and rose proven deposits in the oil-rich region to 95 billion oil barrels.

In addition, production in the extra-heavy oil area located north of the Orinoco River increased from an average of 626,000 bpd in 2007 to 800,000 bpd in July 2008, Venezuelan state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) reported.

At the same time, Pdvsa continued the certification of oil deposits in the Orinoco Oil Belt, in order to increase proven reserves in the area to 235 billion barrels in 2009.

Having this in mind, Pdvsa has established partnerships with 19 companies, most of them state oil companies from 16 countries, namely Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iran, Malaysia, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Uruguay and Vietnam.