"Nothing Burger" - World's Biggest Reserves, But Most Of Venezuela's Oil Is The World's Dirtiest & Hardest To Refine

[hatrack]

EDIT

Venezuela’s “extra-heavy” crude is a thick, tar-like substance that typically must be heated to bring it to the surface and diluted with other chemicals before it can move through pipelines. “It takes a lot of energy to heat the stuff and get it out of the ground and then get it to move and flow, and then turn it into normal products,” said Deborah Gordon, senior principal in the Climate Intelligence Program and head of the Oil and Gas Solutions Initiative for RMI, a nonprofit focused on clean energy. “And every energy input means a lot of emissions.”

Greenhouse gas emissions from heavy crude oil production, refining and use are, on average, 1.5 times higher than those of light crude oil, according to a 2018 study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. The study, co-authored by Gordon, assessed the climate impact of 75 different crude oils worldwide. Oil from Venezuela, the majority of which is extra-heavy crude, has the second-highest carbon intensity of oil from any country, a policy paper published in 2018 by Brandt, Gordon and others in the journal Science concluded. An updated analysis by RMI’s oil and gas climate index, based on 2024 data, found that oil from Venezuela had the highest carbon intensity among 55 leading oil-producing countries.

“Just because this hydrocarbon exists doesn’t mean that it should be marketed or taken out of the ground,” said Gordon, who is the author of No Standard Oil, a book that looks at the varying climate impacts of different crude oils. “If there is demand, there are far better places to go than Venezuela.”

EDIT

Kirk Edwards, president of Latigo Petroleum, an independent oil and gas producer based in Odessa, Texas, called the U.S. government’s recent actions in Venezuela a “nothing burger” for oil markets. “This is not ‘drop a rig and up comes the bubbling crude,’” Edwards wrote on LinkedIn. “Any real turnaround would require $50–100 billion of sustained investment, modern infrastructure, and years of political stability.” Edwards said companies are unlikely to make that investment given current low oil prices.

EDIT

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07012026/venezuela-extra-heavy-oil-greenhouse-gas-emissions/

[SheltieLover]

1. Yup

[Lovie777]

2. And from what I'm reading.................

30-50 million of barrels is a farce...........

[VMA131Marine]

3. Exactly. US oil consumption is 20 million-ish bbls per day

But, it’s $2-3 billion that Trump gets to control directly for … reasons. Don’t be shocked when some of that ends up in his pockets.

[multigraincracker]

4. Greenland is even worse for extracting resources.

[Simeon Salus]

5. I thought Canada's tar sands was the World's Dirtiest & Hardest To Refine

Someone will sue for that trademark.

[Turbineguy]

6. It's great for paving roads.

Or making the Epstein Files hard to read.

[sop]

7. 'Dense, sticky and heavy: why Venezuelan crude oil appeals to US refineries'

(The Guardian) "Clustered along the US Gulf coast are some of the largest and most complex heavy-oil refineries in the world. These sprawling industrial hubs, owned by major US oil companies, stand ready to emerge as some of the major victors of Donald Trump’s swoop on Venezuela."

"In some ways, these refineries are a relic of another time; built to process the heavy, unctuous crude imported from Latin America before the boom in lighter US shale oil emerged earlier this century."

"Venezuelan oil is particularly dense and sticky. The high-sulphur crude more closely resembles a semi-solid tar than the far clearer liquids produced in US shale heartlands, making it more difficult to extract and process into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and feedstock for the chemicals industry. But it is exactly what many refineries in the US were built to treat."

"As a result, the US remains a major importer of crude to feed its refineries, despite being one of the biggest oil exporters in the world. Access to Venezuelan crude at an attractive price could play an important role in sating Trump’s appetite for cheap energy to fuel the 'reindustrialisation' of the US economy."

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/05/venezuelan-crude-oil-appeals-to-us-refineries

And:

(MarketWatch) 'Why U.S. oil refiners could be the big winners in Venezuela - even if its actual reserves disappoint'

"Refiners in the U.S. have the distinctive ability to handle the type of heavy crude that Venezuela claims to have in abundance"

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-u-s-oil-refiners-could-be-the-big-winners-in-venezuela-even-if-its-actual-reserves-disappoint-6a9a6b1a

[riversedge]

8. Seems Trumpy does not know how to shop for the good oil. He is failed shopper!!