Heavy crude oil is denser and harder to transport and refine than light crude oil. It contains more carbon and impurities, releasing more carbon dioxide during production. Heavy crude oil is often found near tar sands and is priced lower than light crude. Venezuela has the largest deposits of heavy crude oil in the world.
Crude oil that does not flow easily at room temperature is called heavy crude oil. This differs from light crude oil, which flows freely at the same temperatures due to its lower density. Crude oil with an American Petroleum Institute gravity of less than 20 degrees is classified as heavy crude or extra heavy crude. The total amount of heavy crude oil in the world is assumed to be more than double that of the more traditionally used light crude oil.
Heavy crude oil deposits are often found near tar sands, or tar sands, which are a mix of sand, clay, water, and extremely dense oil. Occasionally, the term “bitumen,” which is the sticky, semi-solid, tar-like form of petroleum found in oil sands, will be used interchangeably with the extra heavy crude oil found in such deposits. Some geologists argue that bitumen is simply a form of extra heavy crude oil that is so dense that it doesn’t flow at all at room temperature.
The transportation and refining of heavy crude poses greater environmental risks than the transportation and refining of the more traditional light crude. Heavy oil contains more carbon, along with many other impurities, so it releases more carbon dioxide during production and use, which can negatively affect the earth’s ozone layer. The heavy oil production process can generate up to three times the amount of carbon dioxide generated by light oil production.
Economically, heavy crude is often priced lower than light crude because it is considered harder and more expensive to work with. Although heavy oil can often be found at much shallower depths than light oil – a feature that can significantly reduce the cost of extraction – producing heavy crude oil comes with additional costs. Many of the existing traditional methods for transporting and extracting light crude oil prove ineffective when dealing with the increasing density of heavy crude oil, necessitating costly infrastructure modifications.
As easily accessible deposits of light crude dwindle, heavy oil production has become more common. Although it is found in more than 30 countries, the largest deposits are found in Venezuela near the Orinoco River. These deposits are estimated to contain more than 500 billion barrels of oil, making them the largest deposits of recoverable oil in the world.
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