MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Repsol-YPF finds natural gas in Venezuela

Spanish oil company Repsol YPF discovered natural gas at an exploratory well in the Barrancas project, south-western Venezuela, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The well, Sipororo 2X, is the first of eleven to be drilled in connection with the Barrancas project, in the states of Barinas, Portuguesa and Trujillo, for which Repsol

YPF was granted natural gas exploration and production rights in 2001. Gas has been discovered at a depth of 3,000 meters (9,836 feet) and production tests point to a volume of around 1 million cubic meters per day, far more than first estimated.

Natural gas from this field will initially fuel an 80-megawatt power plant to be built in the state of Portuguesa.

The power plant is expected to begin operation during the second quarter of 2005. Projections are that production in the Barrancas area will be 2 million cubic meters per day by 2006 and should be used to run a 450-megawatt power plant in Barinas.

The project is designed to alleviate gas and electricity shortage in south-western Venezuela.

Repsol YPF currently pumps 100,000 barrels per day of oil from fields in Quiriquire, Quiamare-La Ceiba, Guarico Occidental and Mene Grande in Venezuela.