Venezuela and Vietnam agreed to establish a joint oil venture that will begin operation in 2012, the government said on Thursday. The new company, PDVSA Petromacareo, S.A, will be formed by the Venezuelan state-run Petroleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) through its filial Corporacion Venezolana de Petroleo (CVP), and the Vietnamese Petrovietnam Exploration Production Corporation LTD (PVEP), according to the Venezuelan Energy and Oil Ministry (Menpet). Venezuela will keep 60 percent of the shares and the PVEP will have the rest. The joint venture will produce and improve the extra heavy crude oil in the Junin 2 block of the Orinoco Oil Strip (OOS) in Venezuela's Orinoco River Basin. According to the Menpet, the new company will begin operating in 2012 with a daily output of 50,000 barrels, which will be increased to 200,000 barrels a day by 2016. The Junin 2 block has an extension of 247.77 sq km, and its oil reserve is estimated at 35.1 billion barrels, with 7.5 billion of them confirmed, according to the Venezuelan government. 