Venezuela's Perla offshore natural gas project -- which is owned by state-owned PDVSA, ENI of Italy and Repsol of Spain -- is now more than two-thirds complete, a PDVSA official said Monday.
The first phase of Perla, which aims to add 150,000 Mcf/d to Venezuela's gas delivery system, is now 69% finished, PDVSA Offshore Executive Director Angel Ramon Nunez said in a statement updating the project, which is located in the Gulf of Venezuela. Officials met Saturday in western Falcon state to review the project's progress.
At the beginning of July, Oil and Mining Minister Rafael Ramirez, who is also president of PDVSA, said the project was 63% complete.
The offshore project is developing the Perla block, which is said to contain reserves of as much as 16 Tcf of natural gas and 182 million barrels of condensates. The three partners aim to begin gas production at the site in December.
Phase one of the project -- a $1.476 billion investment -- is expected see by December production of 150,000 Mcf/d of gas and 3,660 b/d of condensates. By May 2015, production should increase to 400,000 Mcf/d and 8,580 b/d of condensates.
The total investment for Perla is projected to be $5.043 billion.
Phase two of the Perla project is 59% complete, Nunez said, 7% more than Ramirez estimated in July. Production for phase two will reach 800,000 Mcf/d of gas and 24,000 b/d of condensates by June 2017.
The Perla offshore field is located inside the Cardon IV block, which is 50 km west of the Paraguana Peninsula. It is part of the 29-block Rafael Urdaneta offshore project.
The blocks were awarded to 50:50 partners ENI and Repsol in 2005. PDVSA entered the venture in June by acquiring a 35% interest, with the stakes of ENI and Repsol now at 32.5% each.
