Tag: heavy crude oil

Q&A

Why Isn’t Venezuela Rich Like Saudi Arabia Despite Huge Oil Reserves?

Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves (~303 billion barrels as of recent estimates), surpassing Saudi Arabia’s ~267 billion, yet it produces only about 900,000–1.1 million barrels per day in late 2025/early 2026—roughly 1/10th of Saudi Arabia’s ~10 million barrels daily. Saudi oil is mostly light, sweet crude: cheap to extract (low costs), easy […]