MILAN, Italy, March 14 (UPI) -- A joint venture between state-owned PDVSA and Italian energy company Eni announced the start of production at the offshore Junin 5 oil field in Venezuela.
Petrojunin, the joint venture between state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela and Eni, said the production milestone came nine months ahead of schedule.
Through the drilling of around 180 wells, Eni said production for Phase 1 development should hit the 15,000 barrel-per-day mark by the end of the year and reach 75,000 bpd by 2015. Phase 2 should reach 240,000 bpd by 2018.
Eni last year agreed to provide up to $1.5 billion to help PDVSA develop its share of the production phase of Junin 5.
Eni said crude oil produced from Junin 5 will be transported to a Venezuelan refinery and exported as oil products like diesel.
The Italian company estimates Junin 5 holds 35 billion barrels of oil equivalent in place. The company estimates it will drill around 1,500 wells in the area during its 40-year lifespan.
The offshore block is about 340 miles southeast of Caracas.
