Orinoco tar sands

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The Orinoco Oil Sands, also known as the Orinoco Tar Sands, are deposits of oil sands located near the Orinoco River in Venezuela. The Orinoco River starts in the Venezuelan-Brazilian border and ends in the Atlantic Ocean at the Gulf of Paria. The Orinoco Tar Sands are known to be one of the largest, if not the largest oil sand deposit in the world, along with the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada. It is estimated that at least 66% of the world's petroleum reserves are preserved in oil sand form, with 32% (270 km³ or 1.7 trillion barrels) of oil sand deposits coming from Athabasca and 34% (286 km³ or 1.8 trillion barrels) from Orinoco.

Orinoco tar sands are, according to experts, the more economic feasible to extract, at $16 per barrel of oil compared with Canada's Athabasca oil sands at around $20 per barrel. [1]