Venezuela's announcement that it and France's Total (TOT) would spend $25 billion on a series of oil projects is not set in stone, an official with the French company said Wednesday.

"It's a project, a plan, but it's not a fact," said the Total official, who asked not to be identified.

Venezuela's state oil company said in a statement Tuesday that it and Total would spend the $25 billion to develop the Junin 10 block and that the investment would also include Total's construction of a refinery or upgrader.

The area's oil is tar-like, requiring special equipment to turn it into marketable oil. Venezuela's government has made similar announcements regarding multi-billion-dollar investment plans with oil companies in China, Russia and elsewhere. Analysts say that in most cases the plans only include memorandums of understanding but no solid commitments of money.

-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; (58) 212-284-5651; dan.molinski@dowjones.com