A Venezuelan state oil company (Pdvsa) oil drill is set to begin searching for gas and condensates in Bolivia by the end of the month, said the company in a communiqué.

The drill is on board a ship sailing towards the port of Arica, Chile, from where the oil equipment will be transported by land to the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz.

The electric drill, identified as "PDV08," was made in China. It will be operated by Venezuelan technicians at depths ranging between 16,400 feet and 26,200 feet "in the Bolivian traditional and non-traditional exploration areas," Pdvsa said. 

Francisco Arias Cárdenas, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean, oversaw the shipment of the drill at the Venezuelan eastern port of Guanta. Arias also said that a group of generators, derricks, pumps, bins and waste repository were also shipped.

"We are shipping the whole equipment with all the material necessary to begin drilling," said Arias.

Pdvsa's communiqué also said that the drill shall be used to find condensates and gas in the Cañada, Itaguazerenda and Ovai areas.

The Vice-Minister also recalled that the shipment of the drill is part of the agreement signed on January 23, 2006, between the governments of Venezuela and Bolivia.