The company said that the gas produced will be exported in the form of liquefied natural gas.

Rosneft plans to carry on production at two fields offshore Venezuela for 15 years, averaging at 6.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The gas produced will be exported in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Russian oil company reported on December 17.

According to the company’s statement, Venezuelan authorities gave a Rosneft subsidiary, a license to develop the offshore fields of Patan and Mejillones for 30 years.

According to the license, Groupo Rosneft will be the project operator and will be able to export all the volumes produced, in the form of LNG among other options. The gas reserves in place for the two fields are 180 billion cubic meters. The targeted production level is 6.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year for 15 years,” the company stated.

The agreements were made during the head of the Russian company Igor Sechin’s visit to Venezuela in mid-December. During his trip to the Latin American country, the Russian oil executive met with President Nicolas Maduro.

Rosneft is one of the largest investors in Venezuela. In July, Rosneft and the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela completed their work on a feasibility study for project development and construction of three gas fields: Patan, Mejillones, and Rio Caribe.