Venezuela could import as much as 100,000 b/d of light crude in the next two years to use in upgrading the extra heavy crude produced in the eastern Orinoco Belt, a source in PDVSA's business development department said.
"The import of light crude will progress along with [the advance of] new projects in the Orinoco Belt," said the source, who asked not to be identified.
The source was a participant in the Heavy Oil Latin America Conference and Exhibition held this week on Margarita Island.
Sources said PDVSA plans to use Saharan Blend crude from Algeria as diluent for its heavy crude production in the Orinoco Belt. The company also plans to import Urals crude from Russia as feedstock to restart the shuttered lubricants plant at the Isla refinery on Curacao, the sources said.
Importing light crude "is a business decision because we have to extract the extra heavy crude," Ramon Silva, manager of strategic planning for PDVSA, said during the conference.
"We have no other choice," he said.
Silva said the light crude will increase the value of the extra heavy crude from the Orinoco Belt that has a viscosity of 8.5 degrees API and a high content of metals and sulfur.
"We have to look for light crude where we can find it," he said.
Despite the fact Venezuela has proven reserves of light and medium crudes on the order of 20 billion barrels, the production in traditional fields is now insufficient to cover the upgrading requirements of the extra heavy crude produced in the Orinoco.
"The reserves of conventional crude in Venezuela are exhausted. The Furrial and Lake Maracaibo basin are fields in plain decline, where you have to make an effort to recover the remaining reserves," Silva said.
The Orinoco Belt is a huge reserve basin totaling as much as 250 billion barrels, or 84% of Venezuela's total reserves. PDVSA operates five ventures in the zone, four of which are with foreign partners; production in the area averages 738,000 b/d.
Seven new projects, including upgrading facilities, are planned with international partners. The projects are expected to result in new production of 2 million b/d by 2019.
"We have to build the new upgraders [to achieve] the additional production," Silva told the conference.
The new projects are behind schedule, however. PDVSA planned on adding new production this year of 46,000 b/d, but has thus far reached only 19,900 b/d, Ruben Figuera, director of PDVSA's Orinoco Belt business development, said at the Margarita Island conference.
For their part, PDVSA's foreign partners in the new projects are not convinced of the advantages of replacing naphtha with light crude to upgrade the extra heavy crude.
"In prior tests on extra heavy crude from the Orinoco Belt, imported condensate from Nigeria has been used as a diluent, but it was not recovered in the refining process that took place in Chalmette refinery in the United States," said a source with a foreign partner who asked not to be identified.
"Diesel has also been used in the mixtures to reduce the viscosity of extra heavy crude, and it has been recovered," the source said. "There was not a loss, but using light crude as a diluent is like putting good money in a bad business."
