page_title: Oil reserves in Venezuela
hierarchical_section_title: Oil reserves in Venezuela
caption_attribution_description: Español: Mapa actualizado con las reservas probadas de petroleo en el mundo.
context_page_description: The proven oil reserves in Venezuela are recognized as the largest in the world, totaling 300 billion barrels as of 1 January 2014. In early 2011, then-president Hugo Chávez and the Venezuelan government announced that the nation's oil reserves had surpassed that of the previous long-term world leader, Saudi Arabia. OPEC said that Saudi Arabia's reserves stood at 265 billion barrels in 2009. The 2019 edition of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy reports the total proved reserves of 303.3 billion barrels for Venezuela and 297.7 billion barrels for Saudi Arabia.
  Venezuela's development of its oil reserves has been affected by political unrest in recent years. In late 2002, nearly half of the workers at the state oil company PDVSA went on strike, after which the company fired 18,000 of them, draining the company of technical knowledge and expertise. Venezuela's crude oil is very heavy by international standards, and as a result much of it must be processed by specialized domestic and international refineries. Venezuela continues to be one of the largest suppliers of oil to the United States, sending about 1.4 million barrels per day to the U.S.
context_section_description: The proven oil reserves in Venezuela are recognized as the largest in the world, totaling 300 billion barrels (4.8×10¹⁰ m³) as of 1 January 2014. In early 2011, then-president Hugo Chávez and the Venezuelan government announced that the nation's oil reserves had surpassed that of the previous long-term world leader, Saudi Arabia. OPEC said that Saudi Arabia's reserves stood at 265 billion barrels (4.21×10¹⁰ m³) in 2009. The 2019 edition of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy reports the total proved reserves of 303.3 billion barrels for Venezuela and 297.7 billion barrels for Saudi Arabia . 
  Venezuela's development of its oil reserves has been affected by political unrest in recent years. In late 2002, nearly half of the workers at the state oil company PDVSA went on strike, after which the company fired 18,000 of them, draining the company of technical knowledge and expertise. Venezuela's crude oil is very heavy by international standards, and as a result much of it must be processed by specialized domestic and international refineries. Venezuela continues to be one of the largest suppliers of oil to the United States, sending about 1.4 million barrels per day (220×10³ m³/d) to the U.S. Venezuela is also a major oil refiner and the owner of the Citgo gasoline chain.
  In October 2007, the Venezuelan government said its proven oil reserves was 100 billion barrels (16×10⁹ m³). The energy and oil ministry said it had certified an additional 12.4 billion barrels (2.0×10⁹ m³) of proven reserves in the country's Faja del Orinoco region. In February 2008, Venezuelan proven oil reserves were 172 billion barrels (27×10⁹ m³). By 2009, Venezuela reported 211.17 billion barrels (3.3573×10¹⁰ m³) of conventional oil reserves, the largest of any country in South America. When 2015 ended, Venezuela’s confirmed oil reserves were estimated to be around 300.9 billion barrels in total.
  In 2008, it had net oil exports of 1.189 Mbbl/d (189,000 m³/d) to the United States. As a result of the lack of transparency in the country's accounting, Venezuela's true level of oil production is difficult to determine, but OPEC analysts estimate that it produced around 2.47 Mbbl/d (393,000 m³/d) of oil in 2009, which would give it 234 years of remaining production at current rates. In 2010 Venezuela reportedly produced 3.1 millions barrels of oil daily and exporting 2.4 million of those barrels per day. Such oils exports brought in $61 billion for Venezuela. However, Venezuela only owned about $10.5 billion in foreign reserves, meaning that its debt remained at $7.2 billion when 2015 rang out.
  Venezuela may suffer a severe deterioration of its relative power in international affairs if the global transition to renewable energy is completed and the world no longer demands its oil. It is ranked 151 out of 156 countries in the index of Geopolitical Gains and Losses after energy transition (GeGaLo).
caption: A map of world oil reserves according to OPEC, 2013
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