Venezuela, Cuba engage in joint projects worth over $3 billion, Brazil-Venezuelan $13.5 billion refinery deal

Venezuela, Cuba engage in joint projects worth over $3 bln

07:22, 12/12/2009

(RIA Novosti) -

Venezuela and Cuba will sign agreements on 285 joint projects totaling about $3.2 billion at an upcoming summit of the regional ALBA trade bloc, Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

According to Ramirez, the documents were agreed during the work of the 10th Cuban-Venezuelan intergovernmental commission prior to the ALBA summit in the Cuban capital, Havana, on December 13-14.

"In 2000, we started the work of the intergovernmental commission with 17 projects worth $30.5 million...and now we will sign 285 joint deals totaling $3.185 billion," the Venezuelan minister said.

He added that the trade between Venezuela and Cuba has reached $8.7 billion, mainly in the health, education, agriculture and energy sectors.

Over 40,000 Cuban experts are working in Venezuela to help the poverty-stricken Latin American country improve its health care and education systems, Ramirez said.

ALBA, or the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, was founded by former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005 and now comprises nine members — Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda.

HAVANA, December 12 (RIA Novosti)

Brazil, Venezuela sign $13.5 bln refinery deal

MOSCOW, October 31, 2009 (RIA Novosti) -

Brazil and Venezuela have signed a long-delayed deal on a joint venture to build and run an oil refinery in Brazil, Venezuela's Universal newspaper said on Saturday.

State-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA will hold a 60% stake in the firm and Petroleos de Venezuela will have the other 40% under a deal the two companied signed on Friday after four years of negotiations.

Brazil has already started the construction of the Abreu e Lima refinery estimated at $13.5 billion in northeastern Pernambuco state. The facility is expected to process 200,000 barrels of crude a day.

The agreement came during Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to Venezuela.

The Latin American leaders signed a host of other agreements on Friday, including on joint development of oil fields in Venezuela's Zulia state, cooperation in electronic equipment production, healthcare and sport, the paper said.