CARACAS, August 7 (Itar-Tass) – Assured reserves of natural gas in Venezuela stand at 200 trillion cubic feet, President Hugo Chavez said Monday as he visited the state of Carabobo.
“These reserves are among the biggest in the world,” he said.
He made a reference to the United States Geological Survey /USGS/, saying it has come to a conclusion that the Orinoco oil belt alone, which has the world’s largest oil fields, may have attendant deposits containing up to 130 trillion cubic feet of gas.
“No one knows exactly how much gas is found in Orinoco but if the USGS assessments happen to be correct, this will place us to the second or third position in the world as regards the reserves of gas,” Chavez said.
“Since we’re so affluent in terms of oil, gas, potable water, and minerals, the empires are looking at us lustfully,” he said. “Quite surely, we share our resources with the whole world but they belong to ourselves in the first place and we distribute the revenues from them on a fair and equitable basis.”
At present, Venezuelan companies produce about 3 mln barrels of crude a day and export about 2.5 mln barrels, mostly to the U.S. and China.
Venezuelans boast having the world’s largest assured reserves of crude standing at almost 300 billion barrels altogether.
The greater part of the oil concealed in the seams of the of the sol-called Orinoco oil belt falls into the category of heavy and ultraheavy oils.