🇻🇪 How Much Oil Does Venezuela Have?

Venezuela is one of the most oil-rich countries on Earth — and in fact it holds the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world. 🌍🛢️

🔹 Proven Oil Reserves:

• Venezuela’s proven oil reserves are estimated at about 303 billion barrels — more than any other country. This accounts for roughly 17–20 % of all known oil reserves globally.

U.S. Energy Information Administration +1

🔹 Where the Oil Is:

• Most of this oil is located in the Orinoco Oil Belt, a vast region in eastern Venezuela. The crude here is mostly extra-heavy and sour, meaning it’s thicker and harder to extract and refine than lighter crudes found in the Middle East.

🔹 Production vs. Reserves:

• Despite having the biggest reserves on paper, Venezuela’s oil production has dramatically fallen in recent decades due to underinvestment, decaying infrastructure, and international sanctions.

• The country currently produces around 0.8 %–1 % of global crude oil, only about 900,000–1.1 million barrels per day, far below its historic peak of ~3.5 million bpd in the late 1990s.

U.S. Energy Information Administration +1

📌 In short: Venezuela has huge oil wealth beneath the ground, but political, economic, and technical challenges have kept much of that potential untapped — a major reason the country remains central in global energy discussions.