PANAMA CITY, PANAMA / HOUSTON, TEXAS (Editors at Energy Analytics Institute, 13.Jun.2025, Words: 2,800) — The increasing global demand for petroleum products has led to greater production of unconventional crude resources such as the extra-heavy crude oil (EHCO) and bitumens found in Venezuela, Canada, as well as other locations.
These crudes are very dense (<10°API) and highly viscous, requiring that they be diluted with lighter crudes or condensates for transport. In many cases there is not sufficient local diluent available to allow these diluted crudes to be exported containing the local diluent, and the diluent must be recovered and re-used to collect the heavy crude from the wells to a central location. Therefore, these very heavy crudes must be upgraded near the production area to essentially produce their own diluent for export resulting in a lighter, less viscous synthetic crude.
