24-05-05 New Venezuelan legislation forcing foreign oil companies to convert current operating contracts into joint ventures with the country's state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, is partially favourable to Brazil's state-oil firm Petrobras, the firm's international director said.
Under a recently reached agreement, Petrobras would cede PdVSA a 51 % stake in its current operating contracts in four oil fields, and keep 49 %, Petrobras' International Director Nestor Cervero told. As a compensation, Petrobras would boost its stake in other joint blocks to 49 % as well, where it now has a lower stake. Petrobras officials confirmed the information.
"There is a compensatory effect. There are no losses," Cervero is quoted as saying.

Petrobras in April produced an average of 43,616 bpd of oil from its four Venezuelan blocks, and had drilled for oil in two other blocks that are currently being evaluated for their commercial viability. Petrobras and PdVSA also plan to intensify their cooperation in Venezuelan deep offshore areas.
PdVSA President Rafael Ramirez in April said foreign oil companies had six months to switch their current contracts to comply with recent legislation that includes higher taxes and requires majority participation from PdVSA. According to Petrobras' Cervero, his company was the first to reach a deal with PdVSA regarding the legislative change in Venezuela.

Brazil's President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and his Argentine and Venezuelan counterparts, Nestor Kirchner and Hugo Chavez, at a meeting in Brasilia early May pledged to intensify the cooperation in their energy sectors with help of their respective national oil companies under the aegis of a South American energy forum labelled as Petrosur.
While it wasn't very clear what exactly Petrosur would achieve other than confirming the already existing cooperation between Petrobras and PdVSA, its creation reaffirms Brazil's interest to continue its cooperation with Venezuela.

Petrobras and PdVSA are currently in talks about building a refinery for heavy crude in Brazil's Northeast.