The costs of building the refineries to process heavy crude may well have been sunk, but American companies are only interested in profits. The Venezuelan oil industries a complete mess productions fell off a cliff it will take billions to get back to producing significant amounts again all at a time when oil prices are low and demands flatlined and will most probably continue to contract.
Where U.S. refineries currently get their heavy oil
Canada — by far the #1 supplier
• Nearly 70% of all U.S. crude imports come from Canada and Mexico, with Canada alone supplying ~60%The Canadian barrels that flow to the U.S. are overwhelmingly heavy oil sands crude (WCS, Dilbit, Synbit).
• U.S. Gulf Coast and Midwest refineries are now deeply dependent on Canadian heavy.
Mexico — #2 heavy supplier
• Mexico provides about 7% of U.S. crude imports.
• The key grade is Maya, a classic heavy sour crude that U.S. coking refineries are designed to run.
Domestic U.S. production — mostly light, not heavy
• The U.S. produces a record ~13.4 million bpd, but it is mostly light sweet crude.
• U.S. refineries were built decades ago to run heavy sour crude, not shale light oil.
• So even though the U.S. is a huge producer, it still imports heavy crude to keep refineries optimized
Venezuela has the largest heavy‑oil reserves on the planet
• ~303 billion barrels
• Nearly all heavy or extra‑heavy
• Far more than any other heavy‑oil supplier
U.S. refineries were historically built around Venezuelan crude
• Because of its heavy, high‑sulfur profile
• Canada’s oil sands became the replacement after sanctions
Production is tiny compared to reserves
• Infrastructure collapse + sanctions
•
U.S. now openly planning to rebuild Venezuela’s oil sector(it is not even hiding this so why do you doubt it! )
Although it will cost billions to upgrade the Venezuelan infrastructure, the production costs of Venezuela's oil is relatively low compared to the current suppliers to US refineries. Plus the US will probably insist that any increased output goes to paying off their investment, or it is prioritised, before the Venezualan's get anything significant from it (look at the deals it proposed for Ukraine)
|
| Region / Crude Type | Lifting Cost (Operating) | Full‑Cycle / Breakeven
-
| Venezuela – Orinoco | $10–20 per barrel | $30–40+ per barrel
| Canada – Oil Sands (Bit) | $15–30 per barrel | $40–60+ per barrel
| Mexico – Maya Heavy Sour | $10–20 per barrel | $25–40 per barrel
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