Are Venezuela's 300 Billion Barrels of Proven Reserves a Fraud?

Venezuela’s Self-Reported Oil Reserves

Venezuela’s self-reported crude oil reserves tripled from around 100 billion barrels in the early 2000s to 300 billion barrels in the late 2000s due to the reclassification of Orinoco Belt heavy oil as “proved,” see the first chart below. Much of the oil is extra-heavy, which has low recovery and a high cost to produce. There was no large new discovery or production increase to justify a tripling of reserves through exploration alone, see the second chart.

https://www.apolloacademy.com/the-daily-spark/#:~:text=Venezuela%27s%20self%2Dreported%20crude%20oil,alone%2C%20see%20the%20second%20chart.