1 week ago - In some ways, these refineries are a relic of another time; built to process the heavy, unctuous crude imported from Latin America before the boom in lighter US shale oil emerged earlier this century. Venezuelan oil is particularly dense and sticky.

6 hours ago - In 2008, it had net oil exports of 1.189 Mbbl/d (189,000 m3/d) to the United States. As a result of the lack of transparency in the country's accounting, Venezuela's true level of oil production is difficult to determine, but OPEC analysts estimate that it produced around 2.47 Mbbl/d (393,000 m3/d) of oil in 2009, which would give it 234 years of remaining production at current rates.

1 week ago - The country’s flagship blend Merey 16 has API gravity well below 20°. The oil is also sour, meaning it contains high sulfur levels. Because of these characteristics, Venezuelan crude requires complex and expensive refining processes.

4 days ago - This is still one of the heaviest, dirtiest crude oils in the world (16 API, 3.5% sulfur, high acidity and metals content), but it flows just well enough to be transported if kept warm, and some of the world’s more complex refineries can handle ...

1 week ago - Heavy crudes are also low quality oils that require more refining, which further increases the energy used to bring the fuel to market and its associated emissions, said Adam Brandt, an energy science engineering professor at Stanford University and the lead author of the study. Oil from Venezuela, the majority of which is extra-heavy crude, has the second-highest carbon intensity of oil from any country, a policy paper published in 2018 by Brandt, Gordon and others in the journal Science concluded.

1 week ago - Venezuela’s vast oil reserves will not reshape markets. Heavy crude, refinery lock-in, capital flight, and falling diesel demand explain why.

4 days ago - But in inflation-adjusted terms, current oil prices—about $60 a barrel—are historically low. And they are well below the roughly $80-a-barrel cost of extracting and refining Venezuelan oil—much of which is the kind of thick, low-quality petroleum (known within the industry as “heavy sour crude”) that requires extensive processing.

2 weeks ago - The South American country may have the world's largest estimated oil reserves, but output has plummeted over the past decades amid mismanagement and a lack of investment from foreign firms after Venezuela nationalized oil operations in the 2000s that included the assets of Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), opens new tab and ConocoPhillips (COP.N), opens new tab.

2 weeks ago - President Donald Trump on Saturday said the US would take control of Venezuela’s massive oil reserves and recruit American companies to invest billions of dollars to refurbish the country’s gutted oil industry.Venezuela is sitting on a massive 303 billion barrels worth of crude — about a fifth of the world’s global reserves, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

2 weeks ago - Robert Rapier's stories. Robert Rapier is a chemical engineer covering the energy sector.

December 12, 2025 - Though some Western oil firms, including the US company Chevron, are still active in the country, their operations have shrunk significantly as the US has widened sanctions and targeted oil exports, aiming to curb Maduro's access to a key economic lifeline. Sanctions - which the US first put in place in 2015 during President Barack Obama's administration over alleged human rights violations - have also left the country largely cut off from the investment and the parts it needs. "The real challenge they've got is their infrastructure," says Callum Macpherson, head of commodities at Investec. In November, Venezuela produced an estimated 860,000 barrels per day, according to the latest oil market report from the International Energy Agency.

February 22, 2023 - Venezuela has the most proved oil reserves of any country. Here's why the aren't a leading oil producer.

2 weeks ago - Unlike Saudi Arabia’s light crude, Venezuelan oil generally requires costly, specialized refining processes to remove sulphur and other impurities, and typically trades at a discount on the international market.

January 27, 2023 - The market for most of Venezuela’s sanctioned oil is China. Increased competition from heavily discounted Russian oil in the Chinese market might jeopardize Venezuela’s market share, especially given the comparatively low quality of extra heavy high sulfur Venezuelan oil and high cost of transporting it to China.

20 hours ago - Already a U.S. blockade of tankers has cut off some of the supply, and Mr. Trump on Sunday declared that Venezuela would send “no more oil or money” to Cuba. It is true that Havana does not depend solely on Caracas. Mexico has kept up its fuel shipments, Russia sporadically lends a hand and we have low-quality local oil.

1 week ago - As well as directly receiving reports ... of as much as they have in every other region due to operational costs. It is poor quality even for diesel....

June 23, 2024 - In addition to what everyone else has said, the oil that Venezuela produced is very low quality. Not all crude is equal and carries between sweet (low impurities) and sour (high impurities).

Answer (1 of 12): What a great question! The answer is because northern South America has a hydrocarbon source rock that is world class and responsible for the majority of the oil that has formed in Venezuela. This source rock is called the La Luna Formation (Cretaceous in age). The La Luna is ...

Answer (1 of 3): The deposit of oil in Venezuela is very shallow. This causes it to contain a very high fraction of tar. Not that this is bad, it is just not suited to be directly distilled to gasoline and diesel because it contains a very low ...