Venezuela's Proven Oil Reserves Rise to 100 Billion Barrels

By Matthew Walter
Bloomberg
Oct. 09, 2007

Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela, the fourth-biggest supplier of crude oil to the United States, said its proven oil reserves have risen to 100 billion barrels.

The energy and oil ministry said it has certified 12.4 billion additional barrels of proven reserves in the country's Faja del Orinoco region, where the government assumed control of oil ventures with foreign companies earlier this year.

Venezuela, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, plans to lift its oil output to 5.9 million barrels a day, up from the current 2.4 million barrels a day, by 2012.

In the so-called Carabobo Blocks two, three and four, in the Orinoco region, surveyors have certified 20.1 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and more than 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, the government said today in a statement.

In the Orinoco Magna Reserve project, the government expects to certify more than 200 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, which would give Venezuela the biggest hydrocarbons reserves in the world.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Walter in Caracas at mwalter4@bloomberg.net