NEW DELHI (Commodity Online): ONGC Videsh, ONGC's overseas arm has won the bid for a 40% stake in Carabobo-1 acreage in the Orinoco heavy crude belt of Venezuela.

This is the first time an Indian company has made a major breakthrough into the country. Carabobo-1 will also be ONGC Videsh's second project in Venezuela after San Cristobal.

The Carabobo-1 acreage is estimated to have 31 billion barrels of recoverable reserves and will take $19 billion to develop, starting with a $9 billion initial investment, according to reports reaching here.

Agencies reports that the Indian companies together will get some 5-6 million tonnes of crude as equity oil and will have the first right to buy upto 9 million tonnes of the output. The consortium is expected to bring the project into production by 2012-13. The acreage can produce 400,000 barrels of oil per day, or 20 million tonnes in a year.

The grouping will form a separate `mixed company' in which PdVSA will hold 60% through its arm, Corporacion Venezulana del Petroleo. In a change of normal operations, The companies will jointly operate the project, a deviation from other acreages where usually the most experienced company is in charge of operations.

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