Hi, I'm Irafledo, and this is Science Friday. There's been a lot of talk about Venezuela's deep reserves of crude oil. So today on the podcast, we're going to drill into the details. What's involved in actually bringing it to market, who wants it, and what is it good for? Joining me now is Dr. Jennifer and Ms.

Kimmins. She's the president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and head of the Petroleum

Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. Welcome to Science Friday.

Thank you, Ira. I appreciate it. I appreciate you having me.

You're welcome. Okay. Can we start with the basics? Tell us about oil. Is all oil created equal?

No, it's not. And that's actually a pretty strong misconception, I think, out there. I blame the

Beverly Hillbillies. Everybody, uh, Jed clamp it, huh?

Jed clamp it. You know, they, they see black gold, um, but no, not, not all oils are created

equal. They can be something from very clear and kind of looks like water to something that

looks like a really heavy tar or asphalt.

And it has a lot to do with the geology that it was actually deposited in.

So you could have it really sludgy or almost like looking like diesel fuel coming out?

Exactly.

Yeah, exactly.

And it makes it a little more challenging, both from, as you mentioned, the production and the

refining side of things.

Let's talk about the kind of oil Venezuela has.

So what should I be picturing?

Sure.

So like you mentioned, they have a lot of reserves.

They have a lot of oil.

In fact, they're considered the number one in the world.

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