A sticky proposition

摘要

In a world in which oil is scarcer, the 272 billion barrels of heavy crude that Venezuela reckons are contained in the oil sands of its Orinoco basin ought to seem like a more attractive proposition to multinationals and state oil firms alike. Yet three times this year Petroleos de Venezuela (pdvsa), the state oil company, has postponed bidding for seven blocks in the Orinoco which officials think would yield 1m barrels per day of synthetic oil. The reason: the terms on offer are even suffer than those being contemplated by Brazil's government (see previous story), and the uncertainty is even greater.