PDVSA VP: Private investment needed

There is plenty of room in Venezuela's oil industry for private investors, the E&P VP of state oil company PDVSA, Luis Vierma, told the Latin American Petroleum Show (LAPS) in Maracaibo. From now until 2021, planned investment will exceed US$243bn and there certainly is an important space left for private investors,' he told journalists. 'We need the private sector to participate in everything we are doing in our Siembra Petrolera plan.' PDVSA is investing US$15bn in 2008, 70% of which will go towards E&P. Siembra Petrolera entails increasing production to 5.8Mb/d by 2012 from today's 3.2Mb/d, according to the government. Vierma pointed to the LAPS show as evidence of foreign interest in Venezuela.