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How large is the Orinoco Belt heavy oil deposit?
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heavy oil and tar sand
Major oil fields of the Arabian-Iranian basin region.
The Orinoco Oil Belt is an enormous heavy oil deposit located in eastern Venezuela. While it is sometimes referred to as a tar sand reserve, it is technically nonbituminous and does not contain the viscous bitumen characteristic of true tar sands.12
The deposit is concentrated in a strip approximately 700 km (435 miles) long and 60 km (37 miles) wide along the Orinoco River. Estimates regarding its size vary based on economic viability and extraction technology:12
- Recoverable Estimates: The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that the recoverable heavy oil in this region is approximately 513 billion barrels. Other assessments suggest that between 380 and 652 billion barrels could eventually be recovered.123
- Total Potential: Some assessments indicate the region may contain more than 1 trillion barrels of heavy oil in total, though much of this is currently considered unreachable or too expensive to extract.3
It is important to note that the extraction of this oil carries significant ecological costs and may not always be economically viable.12