MOSCOW, July 29 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] said Saturday that its 100% subsidiary VNIIGAZ had signed a deal to draft a scheme to develop Venezuela's natural gas industry.

The Russian gas giant said the contract was signed with the Latin American country's state-run oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela July 27, during Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's visit to Russia.

The scheme will outline a strategy for the medium- and long-term development of Venezuela's gas sector and will include the assessment of the country's mineral base and an outlook for its development, the forecast of gas demand and plans for gas production, transportation, distribution, storage and refining.

Gazprom, which already won a Phase A tender for the Rafael Urdaneta natural gas project and received licenses for prospecting and development of gas fields in the Bay of Venezuela with estimated capacity of 100 billion cubic meters in August 2005, said the deal was a significant advance in cooperation and a follow-up to the memorandum of understanding signed in January 2005.

Venezuela has proven reserves of natural gas totaling 4.1 trillion cu m and produces about 30 bln cu m of gas per year. The country also has proven reserves of oil totaling 11.2 billion tons (82.3 bln bbl). The total length of pipelines in the country is 5,000km (3,100 miles).