Venezuela's official figure of 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves is greatly exaggerated, half a dozen experts have told The Associated Press, in a report carried by the Anchorage Daily News.
They put the realistic figure at 60 to 120 billion barrels, about a third of the official number, which rests on old data from a government accused of corruption. That would still be a large amount, but Venezuela would no longer have the world's biggest reserves.
The experts said this undermines President Donald Trump's claim that a deal announced in August gives the US control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan reserves. They said many of the fields involved are nearly depleted or undeveloped, some in the remote Orinoco Belt. The White House did not explain the figure but defended the deal, and Venezuela's government did not respond.
Source: Anchorage Daily News
