Brazil's state-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras announced on Monday that it would invest 2 billion U.S. dollars in natural gas production under the Mariscal Sucre project in Venezuela.

Petrobras' executives said, by the end of this year the company would sign an agreement with Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA to create a bi-national company with Petrobras owning a 35-percent share and PDVSA 65 percent.

The Mariscal Sucre project requires a total investment of 5 billion dollars. Petrobras will put in 2 billion dollars and PDVSA will invest 3 billion.

Mariscal Sucre's production will primarily meet Venezuela's domestic demand, and any surplus will be exported. In 2009/2010, it expects to export about 20 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per day.

Brazil would be a likely buyer of the exported product, Petrobras executives said. The company plans to use two plants to convert LNG back to natural gas for receiving terminals in Rio de Janeiro and Ceara states' seashores.

Brazil has showed growing interest in Venezuela's natural gas since the Bolivian government nationalized its natural gas resources in May, which might affect the natural gas supply through the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline.

Source: Xinhua