Sharjah24 - Reuters: Venezuela's oil minister and top representatives of state-run company PDVSA on Friday signed contracts with U.S. oil firm Chevron Corp intended to help revive the nation's oil output and expand operations.

The United States last week granted Chevron a six-month license authorizing it to take a broader role in existing projects in U.S.-sanctioned Venezuela, a move to encourage political talks between the government of President Nicolas Maduro and the country's opposition towards elections.

The contracts include the PDVSA-Chevron joint ventures Petroboscan and Petropiar, officials said. The agreements are expected to help restore lost production, recoup debt owed to Chevron and generate more jobs. The projects currently are producing about 100,000 barrels per day of crude (bpd), leaving room for a rapid increase.

"This is an important step towards the right direction, but yet insufficient," said oil minister Tareck El Aissami after the signing ceremony. "We demand the lifting of punishing measures that have hit our industry," he added.

The event took place at PDVSA's Caracas headquarters and was attended by El Aissami, Chevron's Venezuela President Javier La Rosa and PDVSA President Asdrubal Chavez. Other details of the agreements were not disclosed.