Chavez wants to pass Saudis

A man of grandiose plans, President Hugo Chavez talks of building a pipeline across South America and forming an OPEC for natural gas producers.

Now Chavez wants to prove that Venezuela — not Saudi Arabia — holds the largest oil reserves in the world.
Experts have long speculated that heavy oil and bitumen deposits in Venezuela’s Orinoco River basin may contain more than 235 billion barrels of commercially extractable petroleum. If that amount can be certified by outside experts and added to conventional reserves, Venezuela would reach 316 billion barrels, moving past No. 1 Saudi Arabia, which holds 262 billion barrels, according to the Oil and Gas Journal.

State energy company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, is already claiming victory. The company’s Web site includes a flashing banner at the top of the home page stating: “316 billion barrels: Venezuela, the country with largest crude reserves on the planet.”

This would surpass Canada, whose reserves shot up several years ago when it began counting the petroleum in its oil sands, which gave it 179 billion in estimated reserves in 2007, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

But Venezuela’s production falls far short of Saudi Arabia’s, so some say it wouldn’t wield the clout of the Saudis, even if the nation gained the top spot in reserves.

Houston Chronicle