Orinoco tar sands
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The Orinoco Belt is a territory in the southern strip of the eastern
Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...
Basin in
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
which overlies the world's largest deposits of
petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...
. Its local Spanish name is ''Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco'' (Orinoco Petroleum Belt). The Orinoco Belt is located in
Guárico Guárico State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Juan de Los Morros and the largest city is Calabozo, other important city centers include Valle de la Pascua and Zaraza. Guárico State covers a total surface ...
and south of the
Anzoátegui Anzoátegui State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, states of Venezuela, located in the northeastern region of the country. Anzoátegui is well known for its beaches that attract many visitors. Its coast consists of a single beach approx ...
,
Monagas Monagas State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. Monagas State covers a total surface area of and, as of the 2011 census, had a population of 905,443. Monagas State is surrounded by Sucre State in the north, Anzoátegui State in the ...
, and
Delta Amacuro Delta Amacuro State (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela, and is the location of the Orinoco Delta. The Paria Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean are found to the north, Bolívar State (Venezuela), Bolívar State is found to th ...
states, and it follows the line of the river. It is approximately from east to west, and from north to south, with an area about .


Oil reserves

The Orinoco Belt consists of large deposits of extra heavy crude. Venezuela's heavy oil deposits of about , found primarily in the Orinoco Petroleum Belt, are estimated to approximately equal the world's reserves of lighter oil. Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. has estimated that the producible reserves of the Orinoco Belt are up to which would make it the largest
petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...
reserve in the world, slightly ahead of the similar
unconventional oil Unconventional (oil and gas) reservoirs, or unconventional resources (resource plays) are Petroleum geology, accumulations where oil and gas Phase (matter), phases are tightly bound to the rock fabric by strong capillary action, capillary forces, ...
source in the
Athabasca oil sands The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventi ...
, and above
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
. In 2009, the
US Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...
increased the estimated reserves to of oil which is "technically recoverable (producible using currently available technology and industry practices)." No estimate of how much of the oil is economically recoverable was made. The Orinoco Belt is currently divided into four exploration and production areas. These are: Boyacá (formerly Machete), Junín (formerly Zuata), Ayacucho (formerly Hamaca), and Carabobo (formerly Cerro Negro). The current exploration area is about .


Development

On January 7, 1936, Standard Oil of New Jersey, with the drilling of the well "La Canoa-1" located near the community of La Canoa (state of Anzoategui), began the exploitation of the Orinoco Oil Belt (FPO). That well was active for 44 days, producing approximately one thousand net barrels of crude oil per day. But by then, the exploitation activities were abandoned due to the difficulty in extracting the extra-heavy hydrocarbons. In 1938, the first well discovering hydrocarbons was drilled with the name "Zuata 1"


Oil Sowing Plan 2005–2030

''Source:The data in this section are taken directly from the official
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
web page.'' Venezuela power policy guidelines until the year 2030 are drawn up in the "Oil Sowing Plan" ("Plan Siembra Petrolera"), which includes six development projects and consists of two stages: one to be executed in the period 2005–2012, and another, to be developed in the second stage, 2012 and 2030. For the first period of this Plan, an overall investment of around US$56
billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...
has been estimated between 2005 and 2012. 70% of that amount will be financed by Venezuela — state operator — and the rest by the private sector. Oil Sowing Plan 2005–2012 includes six fundamental axes: #Magna Reserve Project: Destined toward the quantifying and certifying of oil reserves in the Orinoco Oil Belt. In a presentation given by PDVSA (held by Director Ignacio Layrisse) at the VII LAPEC conference in Buenos Aires, March 2001, the proven Venezuelan reserves were given as . Of this amount were heavy or extra heavy oil, including 37 billion reserves of extra heavy in the Orinoco Belt (1 in
Machete A machete (; ) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe, or in combat like a long-bladed knife. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the Spanish language, the word is possibly a dimin ...
, 15 in Zuata, 6 in Hamaca and 15 in
Cerro Negro Cerro Negro is an active volcano in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range in Nicaragua, about from the village of Malpaisillo. It is a very new volcano, the youngest in Central America, having first appeared in April 1850. It consist ...
). This indicates that Venezuela's reserves, according to PDVSA, in 2001 were excluding the Orinoco Belt. # Orinoco Project: In charge of developing the Orinoco Belt. Twenty-seven blocks have been selected for development under this project with the cooperation of selected companies. Because of the strategic location of this hydrocarbon reservoir, it is considered of vital importance in reducing levels of overcrowding in some parts of the country and providing local employment. Services and housing will be developed to guarantee adequate oil exploitation. #Delta-Caribbean Project: Gas will be incorporated to the country energy supply. This project pursues offshore gas development in the Deltana Platform off the coast of eastern Venezuela. Further developments are located in the Paraguaná Peninsula, to the north-west of the country. #Refinement: To increase refinement capacity in Venezuela is one of PDVSA's strategic goals. Oil Sowing Plan undertakes the creation of new
refineries A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries a ...
: Cabruta (with capacity for 400,000 extra-heavy crude barrels per day), Batalla de Santa Ines () and Caripito ( destined to
asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...
production). With these three new refineries and the improvement of the existing ones, PDVSA's processing capacity on Venezuelan soil will be increased to . #Infrastructure: More filling centers and
pipelines A pipeline is a system of pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries around the world. The Un ...
will be set up to guarantee fuel supplies to the whole nation. The agreement for the construction of the Transguajiro gas pipeline between Venezuela and Colombia has been signed in 2005. #Integration: According to
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
's aims, oil is to be used as a geopolitical resource helping the integration of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. Venezuela thus created Petrocaribe and signed the Petrosur agreement. A refinery was also to be built close to
Petrobras Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by and Trade name, trading as the portmanteau Petrobras (), is a Brazilian state-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. ...
in Brazil.


Production blocks

Production blocks will be developed by PDVSA in cooperation with foreign partners. In all partnership PDVSA owns 60%.


Junin

Junín block 1 was discovered in 2009 and developed by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The oil field is operated and owned by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The total
proven reserves Proven reserves (also called measured reserves, 1P, and reserves) is a measure of fossil fuel energy reserves, such as oil and gas reserves and coal reserves. It is defined as the "quantity of energy sources estimated with reasonable certaint ...
of the Junín-1 oil field are around , and production is centered on . Junin block 2 is under development in cooperation with Petrovietnam. SNC-Lavalin was awarded the engineering contract on March 10, 2010. It is expected to produce by 2011. The development will include also a heavy crude upgrader; however, its commissioning date is not specified. Junín Block 3 was discovered in 2009 and developed by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The oil field is operated and owned by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The total
proven reserves Proven reserves (also called measured reserves, 1P, and reserves) is a measure of fossil fuel energy reserves, such as oil and gas reserves and coal reserves. It is defined as the "quantity of energy sources estimated with reasonable certaint ...
of the Junín-3 oil field are around , and production is centered on . Junin block 4 is developed in cooperation with CNPC (40%). It is expected to produce ; however, the commissioning date is not announced. Junin block 5 is developed in cooperation with
Eni Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation. Eni or ENI may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy * Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...
(40%). It is expected to produce by 2013 with late production of . The development will include an oil refinery for production of motor fuels. Junin block 6 is developed in cooperation with a consortium of Russian oil companies, including
Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and pet ...
, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil,
TNK-BP TNK-BP (, ) was a major vertically integrated Russian oil company headquartered in Moscow. It was Russia's third-largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. In 2013 it was acquired by Russian oil company R ...
and Surgutneftegaz. It is expected to produce ; however, the commissioning date is not announced. Junín block 7 was discovered in 2009 and developed by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The oil field is operated and owned by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The total
proven reserves Proven reserves (also called measured reserves, 1P, and reserves) is a measure of fossil fuel energy reserves, such as oil and gas reserves and coal reserves. It is defined as the "quantity of energy sources estimated with reasonable certaint ...
of the Junín-7 oil field are around , and production is centered on . Junín block 8 was discovered in 2009 and developed by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The oil field is operated and owned by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The total
proven reserves Proven reserves (also called measured reserves, 1P, and reserves) is a measure of fossil fuel energy reserves, such as oil and gas reserves and coal reserves. It is defined as the "quantity of energy sources estimated with reasonable certaint ...
of the Junín-8 oil field are around . The same year, PDVSA and
Sinopec China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Group, is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The SASAC administers China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation for the benefit of State Council of the ...
signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of the block, whose future production was estimated to be . The Junín block 10 was discovered in 2009 and developed by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The oil field is operated and owned by
PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (acronym PDVSA, , English language, English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as e ...
. The total
proven reserves Proven reserves (also called measured reserves, 1P, and reserves) is a measure of fossil fuel energy reserves, such as oil and gas reserves and coal reserves. It is defined as the "quantity of energy sources estimated with reasonable certaint ...
of the Junín-10 oil field are around , and production is centered on .


Carabobo

Carabobo 1 is developed in cooperation with Repsol YPF (11%),
Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad, commonly known as PETRONAS (stylised in all caps), is a Malaysian Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. Established in 1974, it is a lega ...
(11%), ONGC (11%),
Indian Oil Corporation Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL or IOC), trading as IndianOil, is an Indian multinational oil and gas company under the ownership of the Government of India and administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is ...
(3.5%), and Oil India (3.5%). It consists of Carabobo block 1 North and block 1 Central. The expected production output will be by 2013. The upgrader is expected to be ready by 2017. Carabobo 3 is developed in cooperation with
Chevron Corporation Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation predominantly specializing in oil and gas. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened t ...
(34%), Suelopetrol (1%) pct, and
Mitsubishi Corporation is a Japanese general trading company ( ''sogo shosha'') and a core member of the Mitsubishi Group. For much of the post-war period, Mitsubishi Corporation has been the largest of the five great ''sogo shosha'' (Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, S ...
and Inpex (5%). It consists of Carabobo block 2 South, block 3, and block 5. The expected production output will be by 2013. The upgrader is expected to be ready by 2017. Carabobo 2 will be developed in cooperation with
Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and pet ...
and Corporation Venezolana del Petroleo (CVP) - a subsidiary of Venezuela's state oil and gas company PDVSA. The agreement, signed by Rosneft CEO
Igor Sechin Igor Ivanovich Sechin (; born 7 September 1960) is a Russian entrepreneur and a government official, considered a close ally and "de facto deputy" of Vladimir Putin. Sechin has been a confidant of Russian leader Vladimir Putin since the early ...
and Venezuelan Oil Minister, PDVSA chief Rafael Ramirez in the presence of President
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
, establishes a joint venture to develop the Carabobo 2 bloc in the southern Orinoco extra-heavy crude belt in Venezuela. The signed memorandum established Rosneft's share will be 40 percent. Rosneft will pay CVP a bonus of $1.1 billion, paid out in two installments: $440 million within ten days after the establishment of the joint venture, and the rest after Rosneft makes the final decision on the project. In addition, Rosneft will issue a $1.5 billion loan to CVP for five years. The loan will be provided in tranches of not more than $300 million annually at the annual interest rate of LIBOR+5.5 percent. To develop the Carabobo 2 bloc Rosneft will invest a total of $16 billion, according to CEO Igor Sechin. The Carabobo 2 bloc's reserves total 6.5 billion metric tons of crude. Commercial oil production at the bloc is expected to hit 400,000 barrels per day. Rosneft, along with several Russian oil companies ( Gazprom Neft, Lukoil,
TNK-BP TNK-BP (, ) was a major vertically integrated Russian oil company headquartered in Moscow. It was Russia's third-largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. In 2013 it was acquired by Russian oil company R ...
and Surgutneftegaz), have formed a consortium to develop the Junin bloc 6 of the Orinoco belt in Venezuela. The formation waters from the boreholes show a main Na-Cl level (TDS up to 30g/L) with a dilution trend toward Na-HCO3 composition (down to 1g/L). The stable isotope ratio of oxygen and hydrogen of water molecule reveal that the seawater mother water was modified during a high-temperature thrusting event (120–125 °C), forming 18O-enriched diagenetic water (up to +4‰), which was diluted in recent times by glacial meltwater and presentday meteoric water. The hypothetical presence of flood by a meteoric paleo-water also offers new hints to explain the low API gravity (<10°API biodegraded, extra heavy oil) and composition of the local crude.


See also

* Orinoco Mining Arc *
List of oil fields This list of oil fields includes some Giant oil and gas fields, major oil fields of the past and present. The list is incomplete; there are more than 25,000 petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas Petroleum reservoir#gas field, fields of all sizes i ...
* San Tomé, Venezuela * Hollis Dow Hedberg


References


External links


Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco

Department of Earth Science, Rice University, The Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt In Venezuela (or Heavy Oil to the Rescue?)
{{Major South American geological formations Eastern Venezuela Basin Geography of Venezuela Oil fields of Venezuela Bituminous sands