Venezuela’s certified crude reserves top 300 bln. bbl.

Venezuela’s certified oil reserves have reached 300 billion barrels, which makes up 25 percent of the total world’s volume, President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez said. “We have recently managed to certify 1.5 billion barrels of oil reserves bringing the total number of the certified reserves to 300 billion barrels,” Chavez told national television channels. According to data from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in 2010 Venezuela became the world’s leader in terms of oil reserves (296.5 billion barrels at that time), leaving behind Saudi Arabia. Chavez added that such amount of precious natural reserves require a good protection from a possible outside intervention. “This also means strengthening of the national defense,” Chavez said adding that the country now has up-to-date weapons, which it did not have “in the last 150 years.”