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Bolivar Coastal Fields
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bolivar Coastal Fields (BCF), also known as the Bolivar Coastal Complex, is located on the eastern margin of Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela.[1] Bolivar Coastal Field is the largest oil field in South America with its 6,000-7,000 wells and forest of related derricks, stretches thirty-five miles along the north-east coast of Lake Maracaibo. They form the largest oil field outside of the Middle East and contain mostly heavy oil with a gravity less than 22 degrees API. Also known as the Eastern Coast Fields, Bolivar Coastal Oil Field consists of Tía Juana, Lagunillas, Bachaquero, Ceuta, Motatán, Barua and Ambrosio.[2] The Bolivar Coast field lies in the Maracaibo dry forests ecoregion, which has been severely damaged by farming and ranching as well as oil exploitation.[3] The oil field still plays an important role in production from the nation with approximately 2.6 million barrels of oil a day.[4] It is important to note that the oil and gas industry refers to the Bolivar Coastal Complex as a single oilfield, in spite of the fact that the oilfield consists of many sub-fields as stated above.
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Bolivar Coastal Complex | |
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Location of Bolivar Coastal Complex | |
Country | Venezuela |
Region | Bolivar |
Location | Lake Maracaibo |
Offshore/onshore | Onshore/Offshore |
Coordinates | 9.9°N 71.2°W / 9.9; -71.2 |
Operator | PDVSA |
Field history | |
Discovery | 1914 |
Start of development | 1917 |
Start of production | 1922 |
Production | |
Current production of oil | 2,600,000 barrels per day (~1.3×10 |
Estimated oil in place | 44,000 million barrels (~6.0×10 |
Recoverable oil | 3,032,000 million barrels (~4.136×10 |
Producing formations | La Luna Colón |
Bolivar Coastal Complex is entirely owned and operated by Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) (Spanish pronunciation: [peðeˈβesa]; English: Petroleum of Venezuela), the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil, as well as exploration and production of natural gas. Since its founding on 1 January 1976 with the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry, PDVSA has dominated the oil industry of Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter. According to the list of oil fields, the Bolivar Coastal Field is ranked #5 in the world in recoverable oil, past and future at 30-32 billion barrels.[5] Portions of the oil field have already been fully depleted.[6]
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