India will discuss opportunities for exploring oil and gas in Venezuela when the country's foreign minister visits New Delhi this week, an Indian government spokesman said on Tuesday.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jesus Perez is scheduled to meet India's oil minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, and other officials during his visit that begins on Wednesday, the spokesman of India's ministry of external affairs said.
It said the two countries were seeking closer co-operation in several sectors including hydrocarbons, infrastructure, and biotechnology.
"We are also conducting discussions for ... possibilities of Indian presence in the Venezuelan oil and gas exploration sector," he said in a statement.
Venezuela is the world's No. 5 oil exporter, while India imports 70 percent of its crude oil requirement, mostly from the Middle East.
"Trade and particularly trade in oil, I am sure would form one part of the discussions. There is a meeting planned with the ministry for petroleum," the foreign ministry's website quoted the spokesman as saying.
Last year, Indian exploration firm, state-run Oil India Ltd, said Venezuela's Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) would help it exploit reserves of heavy crude oil in the northwestern state of Rajasthan.
The Indian company discovered heavy crude oil in 1991 but did not have the technology to extract the viscous liquid.
Indian state-run firms are seeking investment opportunities in foreign oil and gas projects as domestic reserves are shrinking, while demand is rising.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp has stakes in projects in several countries including Russia, Vietnam, Sudan, Myanmar and Australia and hopes to produce 400,000 barrels a day from its overseas petroleum assets by 2010/11.
Oil ministry officials say India is prepared to spend more than $1 billion a year to acquire stakes in oil and gas projects abroad. In the current fiscal year to March 2005, ONGC's investment in foreign ventures is likely to be $1.6 billion.