Let's talk about oil now. A couple of days earlier I mentioned to you about how Russia's viceminister, ex-KGB man Igor Sechin, went to Venezuela to discuss a 4-billion dollar loan for weapons. He also talked about oil. Specifically, he discussed about the Carabobo-2 oil field. Rosneft' would be involved. That company is involved, together with Gazprom Neft', Lukoil, TNK-VR and Surgutneftegaz in the Junin-6 field.
Rosnet' will own 40% of the Carabobo-2 field and PdVSA 60%. Russians will be paying a bonus of 600 million dollars on top of 400 million dollars more for "initial investments". The total investment needed would go into many billions. A source told Kommersant the involvement in Carabobo-2 is more political than economic based.
Some people close to Rosneft' think it is logical that ExxonMobil, which usually works with Rosneft', would be the logical partner. Others doubt this will happen, specially after Exxon's assets in Cerro Negro were nationalized in Venezuela in 2006.
Some Russians think the whole gamble is very risky. Others think the loans for weapons and the investments will pay off with the return from oil.
How can they be so sure?