BNamericas reported that US service company Schlumberger sees signs that Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA is returning to the oil field service market for new works.

Mr Andrew Gould chairman & CEO of Schlumberger said that "I think that PDVSA is coming back into the market for services gradually. I don't think it will have a startling effect in 2009, and it will be extremely sensitive to what the oil price is as we go forward. But yes, there's more interest toward Venezuela than we've seen for some time."

He also said that Schlumberger has made extremely satisfactory progress on receivable payments from PDVSA.

In its Q3 earnings statement, Schlumberger attributed a more than 12 fold production increase from a well in eastern Venezuela to close collaboration with PDVSA.

PDVSA has said that it is making progress on payments owned to service companies that operate in the country. The company had racked up billions of dollars of debt.

(Sourced from www.bnamericas.com)