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Venezuela`s proven oil reserves up to 87,621 billion barrels and 235 billion barrels under certification: Oil Ministry
AP/Fernando Llano
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula, right, and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez greet people during the inauguration ceremony of an oil drill in Campo Carabobo 2 field, Faja del Orinoco oil Basin, Venezuela, Monday, Nov. 13, 2006By Elio Ohep
Carabobo oil field at the Orinoco Belt, Venezuela.
Petroleumworld.com 14 10 06
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Brazilian President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva participate on Monday in the certification of 9.1 billion barrels of extra heavy oil in the Carabobo 1 oil field at the Orinoco Belt basin ( Orinoco Faja), that increase Venezuela's oil proven reserves in situ to 87.62 billion barrels."This is an extraordinary number," PDVSA President and Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez said at the event, at the oil field.
Venezuela now said total probable reserves in the Carabobo block were 45.5 billion barrels for a total of around 300 billion barrels of probable reserves of heavy oil in Orinoco Faja that PDVSA plans to certified as proven reserves over the next three years. The Venezuelan government estimated that Orinoco's Faja extra-heavy crude oil may be as much as 1 trillion barrels but only around 300 billion barrels could be refined with today's existing technology, Rafael Ramirez, Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Oil, announced here on Monday.
"This will makes us the holders of largest reserve of oil on the planet," Ramirez, added.
The whole process of estimating the reserves in the Carabobo block of the Orinoco Faja known under the name Magna Reserve project was confirmed with the certification of the new oil deposits by the Ryder Scott a Petroleum Engineers company specialists in evaluating and estimating reservoirs in oil fields and issuing independent property appraisals and certifications.
The Carabobo block area, previously know as the Cerro Negro block area of the Orinoco Faja is in the southern eastern part of Venezuela, in state of Monagas, around 50 KM north from he Orinoco river. Lula and Chavez travel to the area after a brief 24-hour visit of Lula to venezuela to inaugurate the second bridge over Venezuela's southern Orinoco River that was constructed by the Brazilian firm Odebrecht at a cost of one billion dollars and to initiate the reserve's certification work in the Carabobo 2 field.
The Brazilian oil company Petrobras and the venezuela oil company PDVSA had estimated the reserves at 9.1 billion barrels of the Carabobo 1 field of the Carabobo block under a certification process of the Magna Reserva project undertaken by PDVSA, that divide the whole Faja in 4 blocks, Carabobo ( previous name-Cerro Negro), Ayacucho (Hamaca), Junin ( Zuata) and Boyaca ( Machete). Venezuela has invited foreign national oil companies from nine countries; Russia, Belarus,China, India, Spain, Uruguay, Iran argentina and Brazil, to help PDVSA in to carrying out this reserve certification process.Ramirez said monday, that the Magna reserve project, has yield "a very impressive" results, judging by a quantitative estimate and certification of deposits done in the Carabobo block so far in witch experts have estimated heavy oil reserves of around 45,500 billion barrels at Carabobo, just one of the four areas of the Orinoco Faja.
Following the confirmation of the estimates for the whole area, this oil-bearing Orinoco faja would become the world's largest reserve of oil deposits with Venezuela becoming a country affording the world's largest proven reserves of oil amounting to around 300 billion barrels.
Venezuela produces at present around 600,000 barrels a day of crude synthetic oil from the Orinoco Faja extra heavy crude oil from international operators such as, Chevron with ConocoPhillips with the Ameriven project in Hamaca area and Petrozuata project in Ayacucho area; Exxon Mobil and BP with the Cerro Negro project in Carabobo area; and Total with Statoil with the Sincor project in Junin area. PDVSA maintains a minority stake in each of the projects but the government is negotiating to become a majority holder in all projects.
- Elio Ohep, editor@petroleumworld.com, 58 412 996 3730, Caracas, Venezuela
Petroleumworld News 13 11 06
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