Putin bolsters oil, defense ties with Venezuela

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister  Vladimir Putin gave the United States’ main Latin American foe,  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a needed boost with a brief  visit yesterday to discuss oil, defense and nuclear energy  cooperation.
They launched a $20 billion venture between Russian firms  and Venezuelan state company PDVSA aimed at pumping 450,000  barrels a day — almost a fifth of the OPEC member’s current  output — from the vast Orinoco heavy oil belt.
Russia also delivered the last four of 38 military  transport helicopters, but no new defense agreements were  signed, though Chavez said Moscow was open to help Venezuela  develop nuclear energy for generating electricity.
“We are prepared to begin drawing up the first project for  a nuclear power generator, obviously for peaceful purposes,”  Chavez said at a news conference with Putin.
“We are not building an alliance against the United States.  We don’t care what Washington thinks,” Chavez said, adding that  he would continue to make “modest” arms purchases from Moscow  that were the minimum needed for Venezuela’s defense.
Putin’s 12-hour visit provides a welcome lift for Chavez,  who is facing domestic and international criticism for failing  to solve Venezuela’s economic woes and attempting to silence  opposition to his 11-year rule.
Putin also held talks in Caracas with Bolivian President  Evo Morales, along with Chavez the fiercest opponent of what  they call U.S. “imperialism” in Latin America.
Facing a national electricity crisis that has caused  widespread outages, Chavez’s government is turning to Iran and  Russia for help to develop nuclear power.
Venezuela, South America’s top oil exporter and a major  U.S. supplier, has also expanded military ties with Russia  under Chavez, who says the United States could attack Venezuela  for its oil reserves.
Since 2005, Venezuela has bought about $5 billion worth of  Sukhoi jet fighters, Mi-17 helicopters and Kalashnikov assault  rifles. Chavez received $2.2 billion in credit lines for more  Russian arms during his eighth visit to Moscow in September,  including T-72 tanks and the S-300 advanced anti-aircraft  missile system.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern  last year that the Russian weapons purchases by Venezuela could  trigger an arms race across Latin America.
Chavez says his growing arsenal is aimed at countering a  planned increase in the U.S. military forces at bases in  neighboring Colombia, Washington’s closest ally in the region.
The highlight of Putin’s visit was the rolling out of the  joint venture to develop the Junin 6 field in the Orinoco,  which will require $20 billion in investments over 40 years.
Venezuela expects the venture to begin producing 50,000  barrels a day by the end of the year.
To boost its sagging output from traditional wells,  Venezuela needs foreign investment and technology to tap the  heavy oil of the Orinoco belt that requires much upgrading to  turn into lighter crude.
The Russian consortium involved in Junin 6, state giant  Rosneft, private major Lukoil, Gazprom, TNK-BP and  Surgutneftegaz, paid Venezuela the first $600 million tranche  of an agreed $1 billion signing fee yesterday.
PDVSA holds a 60 percent stake in the project. The Russian  firms are also in talks to create joint ventures to develop  three more Orinoco blocks, Junin 3 and Ayacucho 2 and 3.
Chavez hopes Russian cooperation will reach as far as the  space industry. “We could even install a satellite launcher,”  he said at a televised cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The U.S. State Department scoffed at Chavez’s space plans,  pointing out that Venezuela was so short of electricity the  government had extended the Easter holiday for a full week.
“Perhaps the focus should be more terrestrial than  extraterrestrial,” said spokesman P.J.Crowley.