01-07-05
President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world and he plans to show the world that Venezuela's proven oil reserves have been underestimated and that they easily outweigh previously proven oil deposits in the Middle East.
Chavez says that Venezuela's estimated 78 bn barrels together with an estimated
238 bn barrels of tar oil in the Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt make it "the largest
petroleum reserves in the world."
Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) says Venezuela's proven oil reserves have been
underestimated since the reserves in the Orinoco Belt have not previously been
included in studies calculating all the nation's oil reserves.
The eastern Orinoco heavy crude has been marketed by previous governments as a
substitute boiler fuel (Orimulsion) and that it was not included in conventional
oil reserve calculations since it was originally designed and patented to
compete with coal. It was for that reason alone that it was not taken up under
established OPEC production quotas.
Now PdVSA plans to include the Orinoco reserves in Venezuela's conventional oil reserves, a move that marks a shift in Venezuela's governmental oil policy. PdVSA says that previous governments had sold Orimulsion at a fraction of oil prices and then started to mix it with lighter crude to make it marketable, and consequently must be recognized as a part of Venezuela's total oil reserves.
Sidelined opposition-faithful industry analysts claim that the Venezuelan
government is intent on increasing Venezuela's proven reserves to regain
negotiating power inside OPEC... they continue to deny government figures and
say Venezuela is producing well below its OPEC quota and has no available output
capacity to boost its negotiatory influence with other members of the oil
cartel.
Source: Dow Jones