Venezuela’s oil future is murky. But its production emissions are all too clear.

After recent events in Venezuela, the future of the country’s oil remains unclear. What we do know, however, is how wasteful and emissions-intensive Venezuelan oil is already. The country stands out as having the highest average methane intensity among oil and gas producers globally. As such, Venezuela is currently throwing away more gas than the entire nation of Ireland consumes in a year.

The picture doesn’t get much better when we compare overall emissions intensity among major producers.  For those Venezuelan oil and gas assets modeled, the average total emissions per equivalent barrel produced is far higher than other barrels in the global market (see chart at top).

Oil comes in many forms, and Venezuela’s is mostly “extra heavy,” which means it takes more energy to refine, process, and transport, adding more and more energy waste and emissions along the way. It also means that modernizing Venezuela’s oil infrastructure after years and years of decay may ultimately boost production, but it’s not going to pull down its emissions intensity. As more buyers opt for low-leak gas and lower-emissions oil, that puts any future barrels of Venezuelan crude at an even bigger market disadvantage than it already faces.