Venezuela to cooperate with RI in oil and gas sector: Envoy

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Venezuela, an oil-rich South American nation, wants to strengthen cooperation with Indonesia -- a major oil producer -- in the oil and gas business and other mutually beneficial areas, the country's new charge d'affaires for Indonesia said.

With its capacity of 2.6 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), Venezuela is one of the world's leading oil producers. Indonesia, which produces around 1 million bpd, is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) like Venezuela.

"Both countries will benefit from the cooperation in oil and gas sector. We have oil reserves, technical know-how and experience. We can learn from each other's experiences, Venezuela's journalist-turned diplomat Julian del Valle Rivas told The Jakarta Post in an interview recently at his office in Jakarta.

Venezuela's crude oil reserves are the sixth largest in the world and amount to 77 billion barrels. It has also found recently even more reserves, estimated in the range of 270 billion barrels of extra heavy crude oil -- greater than Saudi Arabia's 260 billion barrels -- in the Orinoco region of the country.

Currently, Venezuela does not have an ambassador in Indonesia. It will take some time to get the approval from the host country. But the leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias does not want the ambassador post in Jakarta to remain vacant. Chavez appointed his trusted man Rivas as a minister counselor at the embassy.

Venezuela is hoping to establish strong relationships with the largest Asian nations, such as China, Japan, India and Indonesia.

The two countries, according to Rivas -- a former student leader and President Chavez's director of communications -- recently epitomized the perpetual and vivid commitment to improve bilateral relations during their second meeting of High Level Joint Commission in September in Bandung.

Venezuela's Vice Foreign Minister for Asia, the Middle East and Oceania William E. Izarra C. attended the meeting in Bandung.

Thanks to the Joint Commission meeting, the relations are poised to foster in several sectors.

"We are almost finished with the talks on the drafts of several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to boost cooperation in tourism, banking, small and medium enterprises, science and technology, agriculture and energy, Rivas, a graduate in social communications from the University of Central Venezuela, said.

Jakarta and Caracas, the 43-year-old diplomat said, also expressed interest in signing an agreement to exchange news between the two government's news agencies.

As an indicator that relations are improving, bilateral trade jumped by 110 percent to US$63.22 million in 2004 from $29.99 million in 2003.

"This year, trade may surpass the $100 million mark. But the present trade does not reflect the countries' economic potential. We have to work hard to boost the trade further," Rivas, who arrived in Jakarta on July 24, 2005, said.

Indonesia mainly exports textiles, footwear, plastics and transportation equipment to Venezuela, a country of 25 million people, and imports iron ore and common metal from them.

"If we start doing business in the petroleum sector, the trade will jump to new record heights," Rivas said.

Venezuela, which has a US$145-billion market, earns one-third of its GDP from petroleum exports, which make up 80 percent of its entire export earnings.

Rivas said, as a friendly gesture, Venezuela was now building a US$2 million technological institute near Banda Aceh.

"The technological institute is our contribution to the tsunami-hit Aceh. We will donate this institute to the Acehnese people," Rivas explained.

Rivas said Caracas would also build a statue of Simon Bolivar, a Venezuelan national hero, in Bandung.

Rivas, who is also concurrently the charge d'affiares to Singapore, said he would strive to form a strong partnership between Venezuela and Indonesia during his tenure.