Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA signed a 1-billion-US dollar agreement Thursday with Russia's Gazprombank to boost oil output, Venezuelan Oil and Mining Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

The money will help increase production of oilfields Lagunillas Tierra and Bachaquero Tierra, operated by Petrozamora, in Venezuela's northwest Zulia state.

Funds are expected to be allocated in eight years as from January 2014.

This will boost oil production at the Petrozamora oil project to some 104,000 barrels a day from the current 70,000 barrels, Ramirez, who is also head of PDVSA, said in a statement broadcast by state-run Venezolana de Television.

He said that 2.54 billion dollars is needed to cover the costs for Petrozamora to sharply raise production capacity over the next several years.