VENEZUELA: MADURO GIVES RUSSIA CONTROL OF TWO NEW GAS DEPOSITS

Venezuela is heavily indebted to the Russian government and corporations, and Putin has done everything in his power to keep Maduro in control of the country.

This week, Nicolás Maduro gave two new gas deposits to Russia, offering up 100% of the project and all gas rights exploited. This is further evidence that Vladimir Putin is challenging the US government in the region, and reinforcing his plans to stay in the South American country.

Although Donald Trump has asked Putin to withdraw his troops from Venezuela and stop supporting Nicolás Maduro’s regime, Russia has ignored these requests, and on the contrary is maintaining its support for the dictatorship.

Putin approved the plans on Thursday, June 13, whereby the Russian government-controlled Rosneft company will enjoy the option to export all the gas extracted in both deposits.

These are the Patao and Mejillones deposits, located to the north of the Paria peninsula and which are part of the Mariscal Sucre Project, in northeastern Venezuela, close to Trinidad and Tobago.

Rosneft already participates as a minority partner in several joint oil production projects in Venezuela, such as Petrovictoria, Petromonagas and Petromiranda, in the Orinoco oil belt, as well as Boquerón and Petroperijá, in the state of Zulia.

In March of this year, Nicolás Maduro decided to move the Petroleos de Venezuela office from Lisbon to Moscow to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

SOURCE|REGION