1.
GV Donkey pump working in Orinoco oilfield, Venezuela
0.06

2.
SV GVs Mechanics working on donkey pump and pump operating (3 shots)
0.13

3.
SV Oilmen inspecting oil flooding into ditch
0.21

4.
SV Oil drill rig
0.24

5.
SV Pipeline PULL BACK TO GV pipeline complex
0.32

6.
AERIAL VIEWS Oilfield (2 shots)
0.54

7.
SV Waste gas burning PULL BACK TO GVs oilfield (4 shots)
1.15



Initials BB/0145



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Venezuela, already one of the world's major oil-producing nations form under-water fields in the off-shore Lake of Maracaibo, is forging ahead with the development of inland resources along the Orinoco tar belt.

SYNOPSIS: Work is still very much in the experimental stages --but government estimates indicate that in three years' time the area will be producing some 125 thousand barrels per day.

At present there are there nationalised companies involved in the work -- taken over from former private concessions. With minor projects already well-advanced, major work is expected to start mid-1977 -- and full capacity production is scheduled for about 1990.

The Orinoco Tar Belt coasts the river of the same name which divides the country roughly in half form East to West. The basic plan for oil exploitation in this area is not one of export potential--Venezuela already earns some one thousand million dollars per annum from its off-shore oil--but is aimed at making the southern part of the country self- sufficient. Once the initial 125-thousand daily barrels are achieved -- the Government will decide how and where the oil and its derivatives can best be deployed. The problem is not how much oil there might be, or whether it can be produced -- but how to use it once it starts coming in.