Venezuela surpasses Saudi Arabia with world’s largest oil reserves

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez announced that Venezuela now has the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves, surpassing Saudi Arabia.

"At the end of 2010 we had a level of 217 billion barrels of oil, and right now at the start of this year we can certify 297 billion barrels," the minister said at a press conference.

OPEC member Venezuela produces over 2.22 million barrels of oil a day and has had a series of heavy oil discoveries in the Orinoco Belt.

In addition to crude oil reserves, Venezuela also holds some of the largest gas reserves. In 2009, Repsol YPF SA made a giant gas discovery in shallow waters of the Gulf of Venezuela. The Perla field is on the Cardon IV block in the Gulf of Venezuela and has potential reserves of more than 6 Tcf. Perla is the largest gas discovery in Venezuela and may be one of the world's largest natural gas discoveries