Venezuela heavy oil upgrader maintenance in 2015-2016

"Our premise is 'don't stop production,'" said Pedro Leon, the head of PDVSA's Orinoco Belt, during a briefing with reporters.

Upgraders will now undergo maintenance every two to three years instead of the usual four-year gap, he added, stressing that maintenance is the "first priority."

Upgraders convert extra heavy crudes from the Orinoco belt, the major reservoir of Venezuelan oil, into lighter oil that can be processed by refineries.

The roughly 190,000 barrel-per-day Petrocedeno upgrader, operated by France's Total and Norway's Statoil, was under maintenance between December 2014 and January 2015, added Leon.

(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)