Merey 16 Crude Assay by PDVSA

Merey 16 is Venezuela's flagship export crude — a deliberately engineered blend of extra-heavy Orinoco Belt crude with lighter diluents, and serves as the country's OPEC basket marker. It ranks consistently as the lowest-priced crude in the OPEC basket.

Merey carries a significant vanadium load (~262 ppm) and high sulfur (2.45–3.4% wt), placing it firmly in the heavy sour category. The high asphaltene content — a legacy of the Orinoco molecular structure dominated by complex high-molecular-weight aromatic rings — creates additional challenges for catalyst management and unit fouling in downstream processing.

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