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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (387998)	6/4/2008 12:17:37 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1576290

VZ found another field a couple years back and is preparing it for drilling or they are drilling. Not sure what field you're referring to. The problem in VZ and MX isn't a shortage of prospects. The govt is taking money in both countries from the NOC to fund general govt expenses. The NOC's therefore don't have the $$ (and technology) to invest in exploration and development of new wells. In addition in VZ, foreign capital being invested has been discouraged by the govt nationalizing their past investments. Some companies have decided to just leave. The ones staying are sitting waiting hoping to outlast the govt. They aren't investing new money - why when Chavez will steal it? The following is current conditions in VZ and MX.....neither sound very promising: "Venezuela Venezuela had 80 billion barrels (13×109 m3) of conventional oil reserves as of 2007, the largest oil reserves of any country in South America. In 2006, it had net oil exports of 2.2 million barrels per day (350×103 m3/d), the sixth-largest in the world and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. In recent years, crude oil production has been falling, mostly due to depletion of existing oil fields and, since many of its oil fields suffer production decline rates of at least 25 percent per year, industry analysts estimate that Venezuela must spend some $3 billion each year just to maintain production levels. 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 most industry analysts estimate that it produced around 2.8 million barrels per day (450×103 m3/d) of oil in 2006[36] This would give it 88 years of remaining production at current rates. In October 2007 the Venezuelan government said its proven oil reserves had risen to 100 billion barrels (16×109 m3). The energy and oil ministry said it had certified an additional 12.4 billion barrels (2.0×109 m3) of proven reserves in the country's Faja del Orinoco region.[37] In addition to conventional oil, Venezuela has oil sands deposits similar in size to those of Canada (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 deeper – meaning they cannot be extracted by surface mining. Estimates of the recoverable reserves of the Orinoco Belt range from 100 billion barrels (16×109 m3) to 270 billion barrels (43×109 m3). However, they are not generally considered proven reserves since Venezuela lacks enough technological expertise and capital to develop them on a sufficiently large scale. 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. In the opinion of many industry analysts this affected its ability to maintain its oil fields and has contributed to declines in oil production. 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 1.4 million barrels per day (220×103 m3/d) to the U.S. Venezuela is also a major oil refiner and the owner of the Citgo gasoline chain.[36]" "Mexico An offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico is estimated to have about 12.4 gigabarrels of oil reserves. The Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ) estimated that as of 2007, Mexico had 12.4 billion barrels (1.97×109 m3) of proven oil reserves. Mexico was the sixth-largest oil producer in the world as of 2006, producing 3.71 million barrels per day (590×103 m3/d). However, at that rate its oil reserves represent only a 9 year supply of oil, and Mexican oil production has started to decline rapidly. The US Energy Information Administration estimates that Mexican production will decline to 3.52 million barrels per day (560×103 m3/d) in 2007 and 3.32 million barrels per day (528×103 m3/d) in 2008.[48] While there may be more oil fields elsewhere in Mexico, the constitution of Mexico gives the state oil company, PEMEX, a monopoly over oil production, and the Mexican government treats Pemex as a major source of revenue. As a result, Pemex has insufficient capital to develop the resources on its own, and cannot take on foreign partners to supply money and technology it lacks.[49] To address some of these problems, in September 2007, Mexico’s Congress approved reforms including a reduction in the taxes levied on Pemex.[48] Since 1979, Mexico has produced most of its oil from the supergiant Cantarell Field, which is the second-biggest field in the world by production. Because of falling production, in 1997 PEMEX started a massive nitrogen injection project to maintain oil flow, which now consumes half the nitrogen produced in the world. As a result of nitrogen injection, production at Cantarell rose from 1.1 million barrels per day (170×103 m3/d) in 1996 to a peak of 2.1 million barrels per day (330×103 m3/d) in 2004. However, during 2006 Cantarell's output fell 25% from 2.0 million barrels per day (320×103 m3/d) in January to 1.5 million barrels per day (240×103 m3/d) in December, and as of 2007 the decline was continuing.[48] As for its other fields, 40% of Mexico's remaining reserves are in the Chicontepec Field, which was found in 1926. The field has remained undeveloped because the oil is trapped in impermeable rock. The remainder of Mexico's fields are smaller, more expensive to develop, and contain heavy oil and trades at a significant discount to light and medium oil, which is easier to refine. In 2002 PEMEX began developing an oil field called "Proyecto Ku-Maloob-Zaap", located 105 kilometers from Ciudad del Carmen. It is estimated that by 2011 the field will produce nearly 800 thousand barrels per day (130×103 m3/d).[citation needed] However, this level of production will be achieved by using a nitrogen injection scheme similar to that of Cantarell. In June, 2007 former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned that declining oil production in Mexico could cause a major fiscal crisis there, and that Mexico needed to increase investment in its energy sector to prevent it.[50] en.wikipedia.org