Venezuela, Cuba to Explore in Orinoco River, Gulf of Mexico

The state oil companies of Venezuela and Cuba will join in hunting petroleum in Venezuela's Orinoco River belt as well as Cuba's part of the Gulf of Mexico, the government announced on Friday.

The deal between Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, and Cubapetroleo, or Cupet, appears to bolster a growing oil industry in Cuba, where a lack of petroleum caused dire hardships following the collapse of Soviet aid in the early 1990s.

It also further expands President Hugo Chavez's relationship with President Fidel Castro's communist government in Cuba. The deal was one of 16 agreements signed by Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage during a trip this week to Caracas.

Venezuela already has been selling Cuba almost 100,000 barrels of oil a day under preferential terms, while Cuba has thousands of volunteer doctors to Venezuela who offer free care to the poor.