CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- While providing few specifics, Italian energy company Eni said Wednesday it was reviewing current world oil market conditions with its Venezuelan counterparts.
Eni Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi met in Caracas with his counterpart at Petroleos de Venezuela, Eulogio Del Pino. Both sides, the Italian company said, discussed developments at the Junin-5 and Perla oil fields, two of the largest oil fields discovered in recent years.
Junin-5, located in Venezuela's offshore Orinoco oil belt, is expected to produce about 240,000 barrels of oil per day at its maximum. The Perla field holds an estimated 17 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
"The meeting was also an opportunity to analyze the global energy scenario especially in light of the recent events that have heavily affected the world oil market," the Italian energy company said in a statement.
Venezuela is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, producing an average 2.78 million barrels per day. Its currency continues to lose value in a market where oil prices have shed more than 30 percent of their value since June.
OPEC during a meeting last week opted to keep production levels static despite the slide in oil prices.
Venezuela is among the hawks in OPEC pressing for a stable crude oil price of around $100 per barrel. Brent, the global benchmark price, traded just about $70 per barrel for the January contract early Wednesday.
Eni has been operating in Venezuela since 1998. Its current net production from the country stands at around 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
