Venezuela backs low-cost heavy oil

By Diyar Guldogan

ISTANBUL (AA) - Venezuela aims to be the "primary provider" of low-cost heavy oil in the world, a senior official from the state-owned corporation said on Monday.

"Our vision is to be the primary provider of low-cost heavy oil around the world," Hector Andrade, managing director for planning of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), said in his address at a plenary session at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress, the largest meeting of the oil and gas industry in Istanbul, of which Anadolu Agency is the global communication partner.

Andrade said oil supply is "mainly" related to light oil coming from Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, but added that competition is the "main challenge", since there is a lot of light oil in the market.

He said Venezuela produces around 1.3 million barrels of oil per day and has over 5,000 oil wells.

Andrade said the company expects to increase its capacity by one million barrels per day in the next seven years by investing $50 billion.