Latin America's petroleum prospects in the energy crisis

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1975

OSTI ID:7296384

Grossling, B F

Next to the Middle East and Africa, Latin America is the third largest net exporter of oil. Methods used to estimate the extent of remaining oil resources are not adequate. Although Latin America has 19% of the world prospective petroleum area, it now produces only 9% of the oil. In Latin America a large part of crude oil resources is yet undiscovered. Ultimate recovery for Latin America is estimated to be 490 to 1,225 billion barrels of oil and 2,450 to 6.370 trillion cubic feet of gas. Published information on Latin America's resources are thought to grossly underestimate its energy resource potential. This report approximates that the energy resource base of Latin America is two times that of the U.S. Although some industries' projections for remaining world petroleum resources forecast that these resources would be exhausted by the year 2008, this study estimates resources to be two to five times larger. However, exhaustion would be delayed only a few decades beyond 2008. The principal energy options for Latin American countries seem to be: development of onshore oil resources (Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia); development of offshore oil resources (Argentina and Caribbean countries); coal liquification and coal gasification (Chile and Colombia); shale oil (Brazil); and bituminous sands (Venezuela and Colombia). (13 references) (BYB)

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. (USA); U.S. Dept. of Interior, Geological Survey, Washington, DC
• OSTI ID: 7296384
• Report Number(s): GS-B-1411
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020100 -- Petroleum-- Reserves-- (-1989)
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290400 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Energy Resources
294002* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Petroleum
ARGENTINA
BRAZIL
CHILE
COLOMBIA
ENERGY SOURCES
ENERGY SUPPLIES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
INDUSTRY
INFORMATION
MEXICO
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
RESERVES
RESOURCES
SOUTH AMERICA
TABLES
TRADE
VENEZUELA