ÿþ<html xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:my="http://localhost/namespace"> <head> <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-16"> <title>Venezuela Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis - Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal</title> <meta name="description" content="Venezuela Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis - Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal"> <meta name="keywords" content="Venezuela Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis - Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal"> <meta http-equiv="pragma" content="no-cache"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"><script language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/printme.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/eia_header.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/eia_footer.js" type="text/javascript"></script><LINK HREF="../eia_sitewideF.css" TYPE="text/css" REL="StyleSheet"><map name="Map"><area shape="rect" coords="3,4,73,59" href="http://www.eia.doe.gov" alt="Energy Information Administration Home " title="Energy Information Administration Home"> <area shape="rect" coords="76,10,379,48" href="../index.html" alt="Country Analysis Briefs" title="Country Analysis Briefs"></map><LINK HREF="../cabs.css" TYPE="text/css" REL="StyleSheet"> </head> <body style="margin: 0px;"> <table summary="" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"> <tr> <td colspan="3"><script language="JavaScript">InsertEIAHeaderCode();</script></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="595" style="background:url(../images/R4_03.jpg)"> <div class="cssBreadcrumbs"><a href="http://www.eia.doe.gov">Home</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.eia.doe.gov/international">International</a> &gt; <a href="../index.html">Country Analysis Briefs</a> &gt; Venezuela</div> </td> <td width="9000" style="background:url(../images/R4_04.jpg)"><img src="../images/R4_04.jpg" alt="Country Analysis Briefs"></td> <td style="background:url(../images/R4_04.jpg)" align="right"><a href="../index.html"><img src="../images/R4_05.jpg" alt="Country Analysis Briefs" border="0"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background:url(../images/R4_06.jpg)" id="header_text"><img src="../images/Blank.gif" width="595" height="1"><br><span class="cssCountryTitle">Venezuela</span></td> <td style="background:url(../images/R4_07.jpg)"></td> <td style="background:url(../images/R4_07.jpg)" align="right"><a href="../index.html"><img src="../images/R4_08.jpg" alt="Country Analysis Briefs" border="0"></a></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td colspan="2" style="background:#FFFFFF" id="main"> <table summary="" width="100%"> <tr valign="top"> <td></td> <td align="left"><span class="cssHeader1"> Natural Gas </span></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="150" class="cssTakeAway">Venezuela has the second-largest natural gas reserves in the Western Hemisphere.</td> <td class="cssContent"> <div>According to <span style="font-style: italic;">OGJ</span>, Venezuela had 179 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven natural gas reserves in 2011, the second largest in the Western Hemisphere behind the United States. In 2009, the country produced 651 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of dry natural gas, while consuming 714 Bcf (see chart).<p></p> </div> <div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><div align="center" title="Chart of Venezuela's natrual gas production and consumption." style="page-break-inside: avoid;"><img src="images/Nat Gas Prod&amp;Cons 1989-2009.gif" alt="Chart of Venezuela's natrual gas production and consumption." border="0" style="" class="cabs_graphic"></div></span><p></p> </div> <div>The petroleum industry consumes the majority of Venezuela s gross natural gas production, with the largest share of that consumption in the form of gas re-injection to aid crude oil extraction. Due to the declining output of mature oil fields, natural gas use for enhanced oil recovery has increased by more than 50 percent since 2005.<p></p> </div><span class="cssSubheading1">Sector Organization</span><br><div>In 1999, Venezuela adopted the Gas Hydrocarbons Law, which was intended to facilitate non-associated natural gas development and expand role of natural gas in Venezuela s energy sector. This legislation allows private operators to own 100 percent of non-associated projects, in contrast to the ownership rules in the oil sector. It also mandates lower royalty and income tax rates on non-associated natural gas projects compared to oil projects. The law gives PdVSA the right to purchase a 35 percent stake in any project that moves into commercial status. <p></p> </div> <div>PdVSA produces the largest amount of natural gas in Venezuela, and it is also the largest natural gas distributor. A number of private companies also currently operate in Venezuela s gas sector. Participants with significant assets include Repsol-YPF, Chevron, and Statoil. <p></p> </div><span class="cssSubheading1">Exploration and Production</span><br><div>An estimated 90 percent of Venezuela s natural gas reserves are associated, meaning that they occur along with oil reserves. Currently, Venezuela is working to increase the production on non-associated gas, largely through the development of its offshore reserves. PdVSA has awarded exploration blocks in the Plataforma Deltana, Marsical Sucre, and Blanquilla-Tortuga areas off of Venezuela s northeast coast and in the Gulf of Venezuela in the northwestern part of the country. <p></p> </div> <div>Offshore exploration has yielded numerous successful finds, including Repsol-YPF and Eni s discovery of 6-8 Tcf of recoverable natural gas won the Cardon IV block in the Gulf of Venezuela  one of the largest natural gas discoveries in the history of the county. For Venezuela s offshore gas development to move forward in a meaningful way, international partners will need to play a central role in production. PdVSA does not have experience in producing non-associated gas  the company s most recent attempt at operating an offshore natural gas project resulted in the sinking of the Aban Pearl semi-submersible drilling rig in May 2010.<p></p> </div><span class="cssSubheading1">Pipelines and Liquefied Natural Gas</span><br><div>In recent years, Venezuela has improved its domestic natural gas transport network to allow greater domestic utilization and movement of natural gas production. The Interconnection Centro Occidente (ICO) system connects the central and western parts of the country, making natural gas more easily available for domestic consumers and for re-injection into western oil fields. Upon its scheduled completion on 2011, the ICO will have a capacity of 520 MMcf/d.<p></p> </div> <div>In 2008, the Antonio Ricaurte pipeline came online, connecting Venezuela with Colombia. Initially, the pipeline will allow Colombia to export natural gas to Venezuela, with contracted volumes ranging between 80 and 150 MMcf/d. Current plans then call for the flow of the pipeline to be reversed in 2012, with Venezuela exporting 140 MMcf/d of natural gas to Colombia. <p></p> </div> <div>In September 2008, Venezuela signed initial agreements to create three joint venture companies to pursue LNG projects along the northern coast of the country. Each project will consist of a separate liquefaction train with the capacity to export an estimated 101.3 Tcf per year. Although PdVSA signed contracts with a number of investors for these projects, it is not clear that adequate feedstock will be developed to meet their scheduled start date of 2014.<p></p> </div> </td> </tr> </table> <p></p> </td> <td style="background:url(../images/R4_BG.jpg); background-position:right;" align="right"><a href="../index.html"><img src="../images/R4_10.jpg" alt="Country Analysis Briefs" border="0"></a><p></p> <table summary="" class="cssMenu" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="right"> <tr class="cssTableSpacer"> <td class="cssHeader2White" style="text-align:right; padding-right:10px">March 2011</td> </tr> <tr class="cssTableSpacer"> <td></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_b"> <td><a href="Background.html">Background</a></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_a"> <td><img src="../images/R4_Shadow.jpg" align="right" hspace="0" vspace="0"></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_b"> <td><a href="Oil.html">Oil</a></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_a"> <td><img src="../images/R4_Shadow.jpg" align="right" hspace="0" vspace="0"></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_b"> <td><a href="NaturalGas.html">Natural Gas</a></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_a"> <td><img src="../images/R4_Shadow.jpg" align="right" hspace="0" vspace="0"></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_b"> <td><a href="Electricity.html">Electricity</a></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_a"> <td><img src="../images/R4_Shadow.jpg" align="right" hspace="0" vspace="0"></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_b"> <td><a href="Links.html">Links</a></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_a"> <td><img src="../images/R4_Shadow.jpg" align="right" hspace="0" vspace="0"></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_b"> <td><a href="Sources.html">Sources</a></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_a"> <td><img src="../images/R4_Shadow.jpg" align="right" hspace="0" vspace="0"></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu3"> <td>Full Report<br></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenuRegion"> <td><a href="Full.html" target="_newWin">HTML</a><br></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenuRegion"> <td><a href="pdf.pdf" target="_newWin">PDF</a><br></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_a"> <td><img src="../images/R4_Shadow.jpg" align="right" hspace="0" vspace="0"></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu3"> <td>Contact Info</td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu2"> <td><span class="cssMenu2Printer"><a href="mailto:cabs@eia.gov">cabs@eia.gov</a><br>(202)586-8800<br><a href="../Contacts.html">[more contacts]</a></span></td> </tr> <tr class="cssMenu_a"> <td><img src="../images/R4_Shadow.jpg" align="right" hspace="0" vspace="0"></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="3"><script language="JavaScript">InsertEIAFooterCode();</script></td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>