Will Venezuelan extra-heavy oil be a significant source of petroleum in the next decades?

Unconventional oil resources are needed to complement petroleum supply in the next decades. However, given the restrictions that pertain to the production of these resources, this article evaluates the availability of Venezuelan unconventional oil for helping meet the future worldwide petroleum dema...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy policy 2013-10, Vol.61, p.51-59
Main Authors: Sena, Marcelo Fonseca Monteiro de, Rosa, Luiz Pinguelli, Szklo, Alexandre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Crude oil prices
Economic data
Energy
Energy economics
Energy policy
Exact sciences and technology
Extraction processes
Fossil fuels and derived products
General, economic and professional studies
Government
Investments
Latin America
Oil
Oil industry
Oil reserves
oils
Orinoco Oil Belt
Petroleos de Venezuela S.A
Petroleum
Petroleum industry
Petroleum production
prediction
Prices
Production
Studies
Unconventional oil
Venezuela
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Unconventional oil resources are needed to complement petroleum supply in the next decades. However, given the restrictions that pertain to the production of these resources, this article evaluates the availability of Venezuelan unconventional oil for helping meet the future worldwide petroleum demand. Venezuela has the world's second-largest oil reserves, but the majority of it is unconventional extra-heavy oil from the Orinoco Oil Belt. The perspective of Venezuelan production, the ways in which PDVSA, the state oil company, will raise funds for planned investments and the future oil price predictions are used to assess Venezuela's ability to serve as a source of unconventional oil in the coming years. Findings indicate that Venezuelan crude oil will be increasingly able to provide part of the marginal petroleum supply at a level predicted in global scenarios but short of that predicted by the country's government. Operational difficulties and the effort to raise financial resources for the oil production in the Belt require urgency in overcoming difficulties. As conventional production in Venezuela will stabilise in the coming years and the country is dependent on oil production, Venezuela will rely on extra-heavy oil extraction to ensure increased oil production and the stabilisation of internal accounts. •We analyse the future unconventional oil production capacity of Venezuela.•The study is based on operational capacity, investments capacity and future prices.•The study indicates a production shorter than that predicted by the Venezuelan government.•Venezuela can provide part of the marginal petroleum supply in the coming years.
ISSN:0301-4215
1873-6777
DOI:10.1016/j.enpol.2013.05.101