PANAMA CITY, PANAMA / HOUSTON, TEXAS (Editors at Energy Analytics Institute, 9.Jun.2025, Words: 1,600) — Proposals for 6 new joint ventures (JVs) in Venezuela’s Orinoco heavy oil belt, or Faja, aimed to increase the South American country’s heavy and extra-heavy crude oil (EHCO) production capacity by an additional 2,090,000 barrels per day (b/d) or 2.1 MMb/d.
This potential was to add to the production potential from the 4 original upgraders build in the 1990s by international oil companies (IOCs): 3 from the US, 1 from the UK, 1 from Norway and 1 from France. At their peaks, these 4 projects were designed to produce 630,000 b/d of EHCO, which would be upgraded into 570,000 b/d of syncrude.
