The proven oil reserves in Venezuela are claimed to be the largest in the world, according to an announcement in early 2011 by then president Hugo Chávez and the Venezuelan government. The reported proven reserves reach 297 billion barrels (4.72×1010 m3), surpassing that of the previous long-term world leader, Saudi Arabia.
OPEC said that Saudi Arabia's reserves stood at 265 billion barrels (4.21×1010 m3) in 2009. The appropriateness of this politically beneficial rapid increase in Venezuela's proven reserves is controversial.
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So Venezuela has the money to buy all the deodorant in the western hemisphere. The petrodollars must be going SOMEWHERE. (Swiss bank accounts??)
WHY would 297 billion barrels of oil reserves be "controversial" unless they are a LIE?
Reserves are meaningless for wealth, only production.
Oil in the ground doesn’t become money in the bank, until it is out of the ground.
It might actually be true, but the mighty, glorious socialists simply cannot get it out of the ground, because they’re not practicing real socialism. /sarc
Much of Venezuela’s oil is highly sulfurous and needs a lot of extra processing and controls before it is refined into various products.
In other words, they may have lots of oil (not nearly as much as Hugo’s bald face lie), but it is crap.
Citco - Cheap Insolvents Take Ghetto Oil
Venezuela oil is basically Vaseline. They may have a lot but it’s expensive to produce, gets the lowest price, and the only large refiners are in Texas.