Orinoco heavy oil belt, via Upstream (Oct 17, 2012)

Orinoco crude (also called Faja crude or extra-heavy crude) is not a single exported grade but rather the raw, unblended feedstock extracted from the Orinoco Oil Belt — the world's largest single accumulation of hydrocarbons — before upgrading or blending into exportable grades like Merey 16.

The USGS estimates 513 billion barrels of technically recoverable heavy oil in the belt (range: 380–652 Bb), against a total oil-in-place that may exceed 1.2 trillion barrels — comparable to all known light crude reserves on Earth combined. Venezuela's officially stated proven reserves stand at 303 billion barrels, representing ~17.5% of the global total and the world's largest by that measure.

With API gravity as low as 4–8° in the deepest-quality zones, raw Orinoco crude approaches natural bitumen in character — denser than water, nearly immobile at reservoir and surface temperatures, and chemically dominated by asphaltenes and high-molecular-weight aromatic structures.

Read the detailed product profile here.
 

#orinocobelt  #orinococrude  #fajacrude  #extraheavyoil  #bitumen  #asphaltene  #venezuela