Where in the world
Exploiting non conventional hydrocarbons on a large scale began in the Eighties. These new fossil fuels initially contributed only small percentage amounts, but today they account for approximately 10-12% of the world production. Research began (actually even before the Eighties) in California, Venezuela and Canada, which are considered the pioneer countries for this kind of research. Canada, for example, invested greatly in this type of research starting from the Seventies, and non conventional hydrocarbons account for 60% of the Canadian production of hydrocarbons. And this is not a small amount if we consider that with a production of 3.4 Mbbl (million barrels), Canada is the sixth producer in the world of hydrocarbons after Russia, Saudi Arabia, USA, Iran and China. Also Venezuela is in the vanguard, with a production that amounts to 40% of the production of fossil fuels in the Country. More recently, other Countries have begun the production of viscous oils, such as Indonesia, the USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, Oman, China and Mexico. Among the larger deposits and oilfields, the most important is the oilfield of Faja del Orinoco in Venezuela, where there is a production of oils with a viscosity ranging from 500 to 8,000 cP, high density (<10° API) and high sulphur content (>2%), from porous sand at depths between 400 and 900 m.
Large quantities can also be found in Kazakhstan, Canada and Russia, however, all the oil reservoirs have rich deposits.
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