<P> In addition to conventional oil, Venezuela has oil sands deposits similar in size to those of Canada, and approximately equal to the world's reserves of conventional oil . Venezuela's Orinoco tar sands are less viscous than Canada's Athabasca oil sands--meaning they can be produced by more conventional means--but they are buried too deep to be extracted by surface mining . Estimates of the recoverable reserves of the Orinoco Belt range from 100 billion barrels (16 × 10 ^ m) to 270 billion barrels (43 × 10 ^ m). In 2009, USGS updated this value to 513 billion barrels (8.16 × 10 m). </P> <P> According to the United States Geological Survey, the Orinoco Belt alone is estimated to contain 900--1,400 billion barrels (2.2 × 10 m) of heavy crude in proven and unproven deposits . Of this, the United States Geological Survey estimated that 380--652 billion barrels (1.037 × 10 m) could be technically recoverable, which would make Venezuela's total recoverable reserves (proven and unproven) among the largest in the world . The technology needed to recover ultra-heavy crude oil, such as in most of the Orinoco Belt, may be much more complex and expensive than that of Saudi Arabia's light oil industry . The USGS did not make any attempt to determine how much oil in the Orinoco Belt is economically recoverable . Unless the price of crude rises, it is likely that the proven reserves will have to be adjusted downward . </P>

Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves in the world