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Venezuelan oil tends to be very heavy and needs to be mixed with light crude for refinement. It does have its own light reserves, but they've driven the oil ind
by cheald 10y ago
Venezuelan oil tends to be very heavy and needs to be mixed with light crude for refinement. It does have its own light reserves, but they've driven the oil industry into the ground and are unable to produce enough light crude to refine their heavy crude production.
- riphay 10y agoMostly this is a question of transportation. You can't put heavy crude in a pipeline or on a tanker until it's been diluted with lighter hydrocarbons like condensate.
- dghughes 10y agoI think very heavy is an understatement you could probably call it soft pitch. Alberta tar sands is similar, thick crude oil mixed with sand, but I don't think it's anywhere near as thick as the oil in Venezuela.
- Animats 10y agoWhat comes out of the Alberta tar sands is basically asphalt. It has to go through an "upgrader" before it can go into a pipeline. This is an "upgrader"[1] [1] http://jirirezac.photoshelter.com/image/I0000y08u1qUWSHA http://jirirezac.photoshelter.com/image/I0000y08u1qUWSHA