CARACAS -- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced a new stage in his nation's "energy alliance" with Spain during a meeting with his Spanish counterpart.

Maduro made his remarks Tuesday during the second day of talks with Miguel Angel Moratinos, alluding to contracts to be signed when Spain's top diplomat and business leaders from the Iberian nation meet with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday at the presidential palace.

The most significant agreements include a pact allowing Spain's Repsol YPF to explore for oil in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, and another involving Spanish utilities Iberdrola and Elecnor in the construction of an electric plant in the eastern Venezuelan state of Sucre.

Railroad, naval and infrastructure agreements also are to be signed.

In his statements on Tuesday, Maduro said Venezuela is laying the groundwork for a new approach to "the development of energy security and stability, both in our region and in brotherly countries like Spain."

He said this process was spawned by Chavez's move in 2007 to nationalize Venezuela's energy resources, which currently are being developed in joint ventures in which state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA has majority control.

Also during Wednesday's meeting at Miraflores, a permanent commission will be formed to evaluate and resolve disputes surrounding cases of expropriation of Spanish citizens' property by the Venezuelan state.

Moratinos announced the initiative during a joint press conference with Maduro.

The commission will meet every two weeks beginning Aug. 13 to review each expropriation on a "case-by-case" basis and try to come up with a solution in a timely manner, the minister said.

Moratinos will conclude his stay in Venezuela after meeting with Chavez and then depart for Brazil.

The Orinoco Belt accounts for production of close to 600,000 barrels per day of crude.

Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and the fourth-largest supplier of crude to the United States, the destination for almost 1.5 million bpd of the 3 million bpd the country produces, according to official figures.