Following the Natural Gas National Plan, PDVSA (the state-owned oil company) and

the Mining and Power Ministry anounced, during the last quarter of 2002 the beginning of two projects: the Delta Platform and the Mariscal Sucre. The government's attempts to diversify production seemed to be well thought: "By 2007, Venezuela will be an exporter of Natural Gas", claimed Alí Rodríguez (president of PDVSA) during the signing of the agreements between the Mariscal Sucre Project and Mitsubishi International, last December 1. But the early criticisms against the lack of transparency of the contract with the multinational corporations, have clouded the celebrations for the promised bonanza from gas profits.

The Platform

Development of the sea's natural gas reserves has stalled during the last two decades. The Delta Platform is located in the Delta Amacuro State, 200 kilometers (124 miles) away from the coast, in waters bordering Trinidad & Tobago. It has an estimated area of 27 thousand square kilometers (10 thousand sq/mi) and 55 thousand sq/km (21 thousand sq/mi) at the front face. It began its exploration phase in early 2002 with an initial investment of 375 million dollars. Last August, during a visit from Alí Rodríguez to Washington, the Platform's potential for natural gas production was reassured. The total reserves in the area are estimated in 38 billion cubic feet worth of natural gas

which, as the president of PDVSA remarked, equals the projected budget deficit

of the US by 2020.

After the initial exploration phase, the next logical step should be the unification of the oilfields with Trinidad & Tobago, since they are on the borderline waters. Then follows the preselection of the participating companies and to grant the exploration and exploitation licences. Finally, the exploitation and commercialization phase -expected to be done by 2007- when it is hoped to yield 1000 million cubic feet per day. The sheer amount of the required investments at the Delta Platform prevents national capital from participating directly. In August 2002, President Chávez signed the Agreement for the development of the Delta Platform with the multinational corporations British Petroleum and British Gas Group (Great Britain), Norks Hydro and Statoil (Norway), TotalFinaElf (France), El Paso, Exxon-Mobil and Chevron Texaco (USA).

The Questions

The initial listing for the future partners showed 12 companies, which was cut in half for no apparent reason. The exploration area was substantially modified in a very short time, changing from 1400 to 6000 square kilometers (540 to 2300 square miles). At the time of this writing, there hasn't been an official announcement of the companies selected for the exploitation of the five blocks that comprise de Platform. When the experts came to read the list of the chosen ones, many voices have criticized that the selection has been done behind closed doors, and not through a public and transparent process. The first block, known as El Dorado, has been granted to BP, and the second to BG Group and Chevron Texaco under the title of "preferred partner". To grant directly an oilstrip is not unusual, internationally speaking, but the main argument for that decision is that, according to the "Unification science", since those companies already control activities in the Trinidad & Tobago area, they can work better in zones of shared sea borders. In the website are

opinions from geologists that contradict this logic, claiming that the better course of action would be to have two different companies unifying the oilstrips, so that each one strives to maximize profits.

According to the weekly newspaper La Razón, from Caracas (Issues 417 and 418), a

high executive from BG named Guy admitted that the government group that negotiated the Platform asked for a 100 million dollar as a commision. Several

political spokesmen confirm that the agreements, made in secret and outside control from the National Assembly, are ripe for all kinds of corruption.

Moreover, the long term granted to the multinationals -35 years- reminds us of the colonial agreements of the Suez and Panama channels. Government spokesmen,

quoted by oil business expert Evanán Romero (La Razón, issue 418, page 4), have

dismissed these accusations, claiming that such natural gas grants lack economic

appeal to the State due to the long time required for a return of the investments.

Rafael Uzcátegui

[Tranlation by Rubén]