Recoverable Resources in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt Skyrocket
A new assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey says that Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt holds more than a trillion barrels of heavy oil in place, and more than half of that is likely recoverable with present-day technology.
Specifically, the U.S.G.S. found that between 380 billion and 652 billion barrels of heavy Orinoco oil can be recovered, and the mean volume is 513 billion barrels. It’s important to note that technically recoverable is not the same as economically recoverable; the assessment does not factor in costs of recovery, rates of heavy oil production or a time frame for recovery.
Nonetheless, the new mean value is nearly double what the industry has long accepted. Since the mid-1980s, in-place resources were estimated at 1.2 trillion barrels, and the Orinoco’s recoverable crude was set at around 270 billion barrels, based on a recovery factor of 22%.
Now, assuming the use of widespread horizontal drilling and thermal recovery methods such as steam-assisted gravity drainage, the U.S.G.S. thinks the median recovery factor for the Orinoco resources is 45%. Additionally, the overall in-place volume has been tweaked upward to 1.3 trillion barrels.
The Orinoco Belt stretches across 19,000 square miles of the East Venezuela Basin. The heavy, 4- to 16-degrees API oil is trapped in sandstone reservoirs at depths from 500 to 4,600 feet. Unlike the bitumen in Canada’s oil sands, Orinoco oil is movable at reservoir conditions because subsurface temperatures are high. It appears that the application of SAG-D and other recovery processes can increase that mobility substantially.
–Peggy Williams, Senior Exploration Editor, Oil and Gas Investor
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