02-10-09 Petroleos de Venezuela and PetroVietnam aim at plan to produce 200,000 bbl/day of heavy crude oil by 2011. The joint venture company will be called Petromacareo and be controlled by Venezuela with 60 %. Vietnam will own the remaining 40 %. Drilling will be commenced in the Junin 2 block.
Venezuela's plans also include production of 450,000 bpd from Junin 6 in cooperation with a Russian consortium. Other plans include a 400,000 bpd venture with China National Petroleum Corp.

Analysis
Sixty years ago the Orinoco Tar Belt had been found and partly delineated from nearby oil seeps. It was not then considered as a future petroleum province even though the Boscan heavy crude oil field in western Venezuela was a commercial operation operated (separately) by Shell de Venezuela (now Royal Dutch Shell) and Richmond Exploration Company (now Chevron).
Across the Gulf of Paria in Trinidad, a vast Asphalt lake existed and the tar was and is used locally for roads and roofing. In 1950, crudeoil was as plentiful as natural gas is today. Boscan crude fetched around $ 0.80/bbl then even as the posted price for Texas Gulf Coast sweet was around $ 2.00/bbl.

Interest in commercial operations around the Orinoco Tar Belt was zero. By the 1970s crude oil production had peaked in the US and it was becoming clear that at some point in the distant future, oil shortages might emerge.
By the 1980s, the several Venezuelan oil companies that had once been owned by American and British majors had focused on the Orinoco Tar Belt. Plans were afoot to market a blend of heavy crude oil and water in an emulsion called Orimulsion. By the 1990s, production of this curious concoction had reached 50,000 bpd. But it was never a great success.

Today, several units in the Orinoco region have been commercialized and production of an upgraded crude is running around 700,000 bpd. Soon, the Orinoco will be the mainstay of Venezuelan production. For many years, Orinoco Tar was excluded from crude oil production in the determination of OPEC quotas but that has now ceased.
Crude oil is crude oil and that includes Orinoco. On the drawing board today are plans to develop block Junin 3 with Russia's LUKoil. Spain's Repsol with Portugal's Galp will develop Junin 7.

Both Japan and India have signed preliminary agreements with the Venezuelan government for other Orinoco blocks. Total (France) intends to invest $ 25 bn in the Orinoco. Even as natural gas moves toward ascendancy in the energy markets, heavy crude oil will be valuable component of the mix with growing international demands for it.
All evidence suggests that this once curiosity of nature is now a respectable energy source.