Venezuela and Ecuador Friday inaugurated a drilling station in an oil deposit in eastern Venezuela in efforts to boost their energy cooperation.

Ecuador's oil minister Galo Chiriboga said that the project in the Venezuelan Orinoco oil Strip is the state-owned Petroecuador's first operation in a foreign country.

"Both nations see with optimism the future of the cooperation," Chiriboga said.

On the same day, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa met at the oil strip and signed a series of cooperation agreements on energy and trade.

Chiriboga said that such cooperation provides a "tool" for Ecuador to "seek self-sufficiency" in oil supplies and "boost its energy security."

Ecuador and Venezuela are the only two Latin American members in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).