The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum released in the edition of the Official Gazette dated April 18th, under resolution number 100, the addition in the last quarter last year of 748.46 million barrels of oil to Venezuelan proven reserves.

As a result, as of December 31st, 2007, total reserves stood at 99.37 billion barrels.

Since 2006, the ministry has been adding the reserves from quantification and certification at the Orinoco oil belt and from smaller oilfields discovered elsewhere in the country.

Based on the numbers published in the Gazette, it may be inferred that the domestic oil production totaled last year 1.1 billion barrels, that is, about 3.13 million bpd. This is exactly the amount reported in the audited financial statements of state-owned oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa).