ITALY'S ENI TO INVEST IN VENEZUELAN PROJECTS Italy's state-owned Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI) will invest 197 mln dlrs in two joint ventures in coal and petrochemicals with Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A, ENI president Franco Reviglio said. Speaking at a news conference, Reviglio said the two projects will eventually bring in some 300 mln dlrs annually in foreign exchange to Venezuela and help diversify the country's export base. "Joint ventures are the principal instrument for allowing the resources of the industrialized countries to be channeled to the developing world so as to lead future growth for both," Reviglio said. ENI's subsidiary Ecofuel will join Pequiven, the petrochemical subsidiary of PDVSA in building a 160 mln dlr plant to produce mtbe, a gasoline additive used to increase octane levels. The 500,000 mt per year plant will be constructed at Jose in eastern Venezuela, and fed by butane produced at PDVSA's eastern cryogenic complex. ENI owns 48 pct of the joint venture company, Super Octanos, C.A., while Pequiven has 49 pct, with the remaining three pct to be sold to private investors. Production is set to begin in third quarter 1989. Ecofuel officials said the plant is modeled after one in Saudi Arabia. Another ENI subsidiary, Agip Carbone, will sign a letter of intent in Caracas tomorrow to enter a partnership with PDVSA to mine the coal deposits at guasare in western zulia state, he said. Feasibility studies are still being done on the carbozulia project, with a definitive accord slated for august, he added. Agip carbone and atlantic richfield coal, an arco subsidiary have formed a consortium which will own 48 pct of the carbozulia project, whose total cost is estimated at 500 mln dlrs, the company said. Agip carbone will invest 24 pct, or 120 mln dlrs, in the project, it said.