Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is considering taking an 11% stake in Venezuela's Petrocarabobo project - one of biggest petroleum projects in the Latin American country.

RIL, which operates the world's biggest refining complex in Gujarat, has been search for cheaper as well as heavier crude oil to run its refineries.

The Petrocarabobo project was recently surrendered by Malaysia-based Petronas.  A senior RIL official said the company was eyeing the same exploration assets in Mexico.

Swagat Bam, senior vice-president at RIL, "We are looking to participate in the heavy oil upgrades project and a farm-in in the Carabobo-1 block, taking over the participating interest of Petronas."

The Petrocarabobo project is 60 per cent owned by Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA.  The list of other partners includes Spanish oil giant Repsol, India's ONGC, OIL and IOC.

Mr.  Bam was speaking at the Petrotech 2014 industry conference.  He added that the company was also exploring the option of entering into the Ayacucho-8 block in a joint venture (JV) with PDVSA.

Venezuela has been RIL's biggest crude oil supplier.  In 2012, the Indian energy giant signed a 15-year agreement with Venezuelan authorities to purchase up to 400,000 barrels per day of heavy oil from PDVSA.