Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, left, speaks with Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russia's state-controlled Rosneft oil company, after a meeting at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. Chavez has built close ties with Russia, and on Thursday, a joint venture involving state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA and a consortium of Russian oil companies began to tap a rich deposit of heavy oil in eastern Venezuela. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)