Venezuelan oil will affect the world
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Digital Desk, New Delhi. America surprised the whole world by attacking Venezuela. The US Army arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from their home and took them to America. Now after the arrest of Maduro, US President Donald Trump is laying claim to Venezuela's oil reserves.
This claim of America has raised a matter of great concern. Venezuela is estimated to have more than 300 billion barrels of oil reserves under the ground. If all of Venezuela's oil is extracted, it could also have a direct impact on climate change.
oil reserves near venezuela
Venezuela is estimated to have the world's largest oil reserves. Donald Trump wants to take advantage of this opportunity. Trump has already planned to invest billions of dollars in American oil companies to extract this black gold (oil).
Most of the oil found in Venezuela is found in the Orinoco Belt, which is in the eastern part of the country. The oil found in this region is called heavy sour crude. This oil is similar to the oil dust found in Canada. The oil found in Venezuela is thick and sticky like jaggery. The reason this oil is thick is because it has a higher concentration of earth-warming carbon than lighter oil.
Difficult to refine Venezuelan oil
Refining the heavy oil found in Venezuela is generally difficult and more energy-intensive due to its viscosity. "Oil does not come out of the well in liquid form," said Lorne Stockman, research co-director of the environmental nonprofit Oil Change International. For this, oil is melted by pumping steam into the reservoir and then it is extracted from the well.
In Venezuela, after extracting oil from the well, a lot of hard work has to be done to convert it into useful products like gasoline and diesel. Besides this, the process of refining it is also expensive. Refining it using resources found in Venezuela further increases climate pollution.
Guy Prince, head of energy supply research at Carbon Tracker, said: 'The physics and infrastructure of Venezuelan oil are such that it is considered dirty oil. “The infrastructure in Venezuela is old and poorly maintained, increasing the risk of methane leakage, combustion and spillage.”
America has modern technology
Methane in Venezuelan oil is a major climate problem because it is an Earth-warming gas. It is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. According to the International Energy Agency, the methane intensity of oil and gas operations in Venezuela is six times higher than the global average. One reason for this is the high level of burning in the country. A process in which burning excess natural gas releases large amounts of methane.
According to Patrick King, head of emissions research at consulting firm Rystad Energy, each barrel of oil produced in Venezuela today produces more than double the amount of climate pollution than the global average.
If America, which is claiming to have rights over Venezuela's oil reserves, refines this oil, then the impact on climate can be reduced. Rystad's King said the US has succeeded in reducing the emissions intensity of some of its global oil projects.
Rystad's King further said that refining Venezuelan oil would still require vast amounts of energy. At the same time, this process may also prove very costly for America to reduce oil emissions.
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