ANKARA

US efforts to exploit Venezuela’s vast oil reserves could consume 13% of the world’s remaining carbon budget by 2050, threatening global targets to limit warming to 1.5C, a new analysis has found, media reports said Monday.

ClimatePartner, a carbon accounting firm, modeled a scenario in which Venezuela’s oil production grows by 500,000 barrels per day by 2028, increasing to 1.58 million barrels per day from 2035 to 2050, according to Britain’s The Guardian, which commissioned the analysis.

According to the report, Venezuela’s heavy, sour crude – among the most carbon-intensive globally – would require highly energy-intensive processes, compounding its climate impact.

A previous study by S&P Global Platts Analytics showed the Orinoco Belt deposits emit 1,460 kilograms (3,218 pounds) of CO2 equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent, nearly 1,000 times higher than the 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) CO2 equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent from Norway’s Johan Sverdrup field.

“The decision to ramp up production of one of the world’s most carbon-intensive crude oils … would consume an estimated 13% of the remaining global carbon budget,” said Hollie Parry, senior analyst at ClimatePartner, according to the outlet.

She added this would equal nearly a decade of emissions from the entire EU.

These figures would likely not dissuade the plans of President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax” and has actively tried to kill green energy efforts.

- Pushback from oil industry, environmental groups

Trump recently called on oil firms to invest $100 billion to revive Venezuela’s oil sector.

“We’re going to be extracting numbers in terms of oil like few people have seen,” he said Friday.

In addition to pushback from oil companies – with ExxonMobil’s CEO calling Venezuela “uninvestable” – environmental groups have strongly criticized the plan.

“This is both reckless and dangerous,” said Mads Christensen of Greenpeace International. “The only safe path forward is a just transition away from fossil fuels.”

In a Jan. 3 military operation in Venezuela, the US captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and brought them to New York, where they pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges.

Trump said his administration would "run" Venezuela and its oil assets during a transitional period.

Despite the optimism expressed by the administration, analysts told the BBC that large-scale investment would be unlikely without political stability and legal guarantees, warning that Trump’s $100 billion target remains far from realistic.

Venezuela currently produces about 1 million barrels of oil per day, accounting for less than 1% of global supply, according to figures from the BBC.