Heavy Oil Production in Venezuela: Historical Recap and Scenarios for Next Century

Abstract

Abstract Traditionally, Venezuela has been a heavy oil producer since 1914, when the first heavy oil commercial well, Zumaque I, was drilled in the Mene Grande field, which at that time showed a 707 millions barrels recoverable reserves. This wildcat was soon after followed by the discovery of the Bolivar coastal fields, located along eastern coast of the Maracaibo lake, With a combined STOIP of 35 MMM barrels these giant fields where once considered amongst the largest oil accumulations. During the 1940's the exploration crews discovery a series of heavy oil fields in the eastern Venezuela basin, this work led to the discovery during the early 50's of the so called Orinoco Belt. A huge Stratigraphic trap which contains half of the world's reserves of heavy and extra heavy crude oil. Nowadays Venezuela, through its oil company PDVSA, produces close to 1 MMBPD of heavy and extra heavy crudes, while current plans aim to double that figure by the year 2005. This paper would look through the history of the Venezuelan heavy and extra heavy oil development in the country, and how the post second world war political environment influenced such development. Breakthrough technologies in the areas of Chemistry, drilling, lifting and reservoir description in general, have increased the economic value of these reservoirs, making feasible a profitable operation. A series of viable scenarios leading Venezuela into the next century as the major heavy and extra heavy oils producer are devised.