PETRONAS TO DEVELOP MAJOR INTEGRATED OIL PROJECT IN VENEZUELA

KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 (Bernama)-- Petronas, together with four partners,
today signed an agreement with Petroleos De Venezuela S.A (PDVSA) for the
development and production of hydrocarbons from the Carabobo Project in the
Orinoco Region of Venezuela.

Petronas is a Malaysian-owned oil and gas company.

Petronas, Repsol YPF and ONGC Videsh Limited will each hold a 11 per cent
stake in the consortium, respectively, while Indian Oil Corporation Limited and
Oil India Limited each will have 3.5 per cent equity interest.

The award not only marks the national oil corporation's first contract in
Venezuela but signifies its entry into a major development project in South
America.

In a statement, Petronas said it was selected by the Government of Venezuela
to partake in a 40 per cent ownership interest in a joint venture company to
develop the Carabobo 1 Norte and Carabobo 1 Centro blocks located in the Orino
Heavy Oil Belt.

The Corporacion Venezolana del Petroleo (CVP), a subsidiary of PDVSA,
Venezuela's state oil company, will hold the remaining equity of 60 per cent.

Petronas said the joint venture agreement was signed in Caracas on
May 12 in a caremony attended by the President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez Frias.

The joint venture company will build heavy oil production facilities,
upgrade current facilities and associated infrastructure.

The upstream facilities are expected to produce around 400,000 barrels per
day of extra-heavy oil, of which about 200,000 barrels per day will be upgraded
into light crude oil, in a facility to be located in the Soledad area,
Anzoategui State.

-- BERNAMA