Oil reserves in Venezuela

8 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.

2 weeks ago - Most of the oil found there is among the dirtiest type, with high sulfur and low hydrogen content. Before Venezuela plunged into an economic crisis under President Nicolás Maduro, the country was producing about 3.5 million barrels a day.

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 ...

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.

1 week ago - Venezuela holds about 17% of global reserves or 303 billion barrels, ahead of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) leader Saudi Arabia, according to the London-based Energy Institute. Its reserves are made up mostly of heavy oil in the Orinoco region of central Venezuela, making its crude expensive to produce, but technically relatively simple, according to the U.S.

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.

1 week ago - This week, the US demanded the ... and sales. ... Venezuela’s crude is dubbed heavy-sour, a quality that is viscous and high in sulfur — much like Canadian oil sands crude....

1 week ago - Unlike lighter-grade and medium-grade oils, heavy crude oil is more challenging to refine. The most obvious quality of Venezuela’s heavy, sour crude is that it is extremely dark and viscous (meaning that it does not flow easily).

1 week ago - Venezuela’s “extra-heavy” crude is a thick, tar-like substance that typically must be heated to bring it to the surface and diluted with other chemicals before it can move through pipelines. “It takes a lot of energy to heat the stuff and get it out of the ground and then get it to move and flow, and then turn it into normal products,” said Deborah Gordon, senior principal in the Climate Intelligence Program and head of the Oil and Gas Solutions Initiative for RMI, a nonprofit focused on clean energy.

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.

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.

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 ...

OOIP (original oil in place). There are many cold · production horizontal wells in Canada, and in Venezuela, ... WCSB. The general hydrodynamic conditions were ... Formation was gradually laid down. ... Faja can be assumed to be negligible. What is the likely compressibility value of intact, undisturbed Faja materials? In the absence of excellent · tests on high quality ...

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.

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).

2 weeks ago - Burning any type of oil contributes to climate change, but Venezuela's oil is "among the dirtiest oils in the world to produce when it comes to global warming," says Paasha Mahdavi, associate professor of political science at the University ...

September 4, 2025 - Saudi Arabia ranks second with 267.2 Bbbl, followed by Iran at 208.6 Bbbl and Canada at 163.6 Bbbl. Together, these four countries account for more than half of global oil reserves. The United States, by comparison, holds about 55 Bbbl, placing it ninth globally. This means that Venezuela’s reserves are more than five times larger than those of the US.

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....