What is Heavy Crude Oil ?

Crude oil that does not easily flow at room temperature is called heavy crude oil. This differs from lightweight crude oil, which freely flows at the same temperatures due to its lower density. Crude with American Petroleum Institute with a density below 20 degrees is classified as heavy crude oil or heavy crude oil. It is said that the total amount of heavy oil worldwide is more than double the most traditionally used crude oil.

Heavy crude oil deposits are often found near bituminous sands, or bituminous sands, which are blends of sand, clay, water and extremely dense petroleum. From time to time, the term "bitumen", which is the sticky, semi-solid tar-like form of oil found in bituminous sands, will be used interchangeably with the heavy heavy crude found in such deposits. Some geologists argue that bitumen is simply a form of heavy crude oil that is so dense that it does not flow at all at room temperature.

Heavy oil transport and refining poses major transport environmental hazards and refining more traditional light raw oil. Heavy oil contains more carbon, along with many other impurities, then releases carbon dioxide during production and during use, which may adversely affect the Earth's ozone layer. The heavy oil production process can generate up to three times the amount of carbon dioxide that light generates oil production.

Economically, heavy crude oil is often a lower price than light crude because it is considered more difficult and more expensive to work. Although heavy oil is often at a much lower depth than light oil - a feature that can significantly reduce the cost of extraction - heavy crude production presents additional costs. Many of the traditional methods in force for the transport and extraction of light crude oil are ineffective when dealing with the heavy density of heavy crude oil, which requires expensive infrastructure modifications.

Since easily accessible light crude deposits diminish, heavy oil production has become more common. Even though it is located in more than 30 countries, larger deposits are found in Venezuela near the Orinoco River. These deposits are estimated to hold more than 500 billion barrels of oil, making them the largest oilfield recoverable in the world.