Antonio Brufau, Repsol CEO and Chairman, attended the first oil production ceremony for the Carabobo well, situated in the Orinoco Oil Belt. The well is operated by Petrocarabobo, a joint-venture company set up in Venezuela in June 2010 in which PDVSA has a 60% stake and Repsol owns 11%, with other companies also owning stakes.

Antonio Brufau went over the company’s projects in Venezuela with the Venezuelan Petroleum and Mining Minister Rafael Ramirez. These projects include the Perla megafield development in the Cardón IV block, which began in August 2012 and is one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world.

The production started today assumes implementation of an accelerated plan that develops according to the planned scheduled. The plan is expected to yield 30,000 barrels per day in the first phase, going up to 90,000 barrels per day in the second phase.

The accelerated production plan is part of the general development plan for the Carabobo field, the objective of which is to yield production of up to 400,000 barrels per day of extra heavy crude oil, as well as to build a heavy crude oil upgrader capable of transforming what is produced from 8° API to a crude oil mix of 16° API.

The Petrocarabobo joint-venture, in which PDVSA and Repsol share stakes with India Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Petronas, each with 11%, and Oil India Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited who each own 3.5%, consists of developing heavy crude oil reserves in the Carabobo 1 North and Carabobo 1 Centre areas, located in the Orinoco Oil Belt.

With the Carabobo development, Repsol will increase production in line with the targets set in its Strategic Plan. Part of the heavy crude oil of this project will go to Repsol’s Spanish refineries, which will give the company the chance to use the advanced deep conversion techniques they have been developing in their facilities.