Venezuela bets on heavy crude for long term

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1997 · World Oil

OSTI ID:423141

Abraham, K S

In the heart of eastern Venezuela lies the Orinoco Belt, a vast reserve of heavy crudes and bitumen that equate to only 8{degree} to 10{degree} API. At the beginning of the 1920s, a number of foreign companies explored this area. However, they realized that this crude was too heavy to be produced commercially and abandoned their exploratory sites. In 1978--1980, state firm PDVSA made a large effort to quantify the resources. Geologists finally estimated the in-place reserves at 1.2 trillion bbl, of which 267 billion bbl (41 billion t) were considered recoverable. If produced at a rate of 1.5 million bopd, these reserves would last nearly 500 years. PDVSA experimented with various methods to produce the bitumen. Finally, in the mid-1980s, a breakthrough of sorts was achieved, almost by accident. Lab technicians discovered that bitumen will continue to burn effectively when emulsified with water. Company officials describe the flame as resembling burning gas. This discovery began the rapidly accelerating process to develop what is called the now-patented Orimulsion production. PDVSA managers discarded their plans to supply refineries with bitumen and adopted a new strategy of targeting Orimulsion as an alternative boiler fuel for electric power-generating stations. To oversee this project, a new subsidiary, Bitor (a compressed combination of the terms, bitumen and Orinoco), was created. Bitor operations are described.

• OSTI ID: 423141
• Journal Information: World Oil, Journal Name: World Oil Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 218; ISSN 0043-8790; ISSN WOOIAS
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
BITUMENS
EMULSIFICATION
FUEL SLURRIES
MARKET
OIL SHALE DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM
PRODUCTION
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
VENEZUELA
VISCOSITY