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The proven oil reserves in Venezuela are recognized as the largest in the world, totaling as of 1 January 2014.〔BP, (Statistical review of world energy ), June 2014.〕 In early 2011, then president Hugo Chávez and the Venezuelan government announced that the nation's oil reserves had surpassed that of the previous long-term world leader, Saudi Arabia.〔(Venezuela: Oil reserves surpasses Saudi Arabia's ) at english.ahram.org.eg〕 OPEC said that Saudi Arabia's reserves stood at in 2009.〔(Venezuela Says Oil Reserves Surpass Saudi Arabia's ) Reuters at CNBC.〕 Venezuela's development of its oil reserves has been affected by political unrest in recent years. In late 2002, nearly half of the workers at the state oil company PDVSA went on strike, after which the company fired 18,000 of them. The crude oil that Venezuela has is very heavy by international standards, and as a result much of it must be processed by specialized domestic and international refineries. Venezuela continues to be one of the largest suppliers of oil to the United States, sending about to the U.S. Venezuela is also a major oil refiner and the owner of the Citgo gasoline chain.〔 〕 In October 2007, the Venezuelan government said its proven oil reserves had risen to . The energy and oil ministry said it had certified an additional of proven reserves in the country's Faja del Orinoco region. In February 2008, Venezuelan proven oil reserves were .〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=OPEC Facts and figures ) 〕 By 2009, Venezuela reported of conventional oil reserves, the largest of any country in South America.〔(OPEC data ) at opec.org〕 In 2008, it had net oil exports of to the United States.〔(EIA data ) at tonto.eia.doe.gov〕 As a result of the lack of transparency in the country's accounting, Venezuela's true level of oil production is difficult to determine, but OPEC analysts estimate that it produced around of oil in 2009. This would give it 234 years of remaining production at current rates. ==Orinoco Belt== In addition to conventional oil, Venezuela has oil sands deposits similar in size to those of Canada, and approximately equal to the world's reserves of conventional oil. Venezuela's Orinoco tar sands are less viscous than Canada's Athabasca oil sands – meaning they can be produced by more conventional means – but they are buried too deep to be extracted by surface mining. Estimates of the recoverable reserves of the Orinoco Belt range from to . In 2009, USGS updated this value to . According to the United States Geological Survey, the Orinoco Belt alone is estimated to contain 900– of heavy crude in proven and unproven deposits. Of this, the United States Geological Survey estimated that 380– could be technically recoverable, which would make Venezuela's total recoverable reserves (proven and unproven) among the largest in the world.〔(【引用サイトリンク】year=2009 )〕〔(Venezuela oil 'may double Saudi Arabia' ) BBC〕 The technology needed to recover ultra-heavy crude oil, such as in most of the Orinoco Belt, may be much more complex and expensive than that of Saudi Arabia's light oil industry.〔 The USGS did not make any attempt to determine how much oil in the Orinoco Belt is economically recoverable. 〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Oil reserves in Venezuela」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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