Merey 16 Crude Oil: What It Is, What It's Made Of and What It Costs (2026)
Merey 16 is the heavy crude that Venezuela exports most: a blend of extra-heavy oil from the Orinoco Belt with lighter crudes, finished at about 16° API and roughly 2.7% sulfur. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) lists it at 15.9° API and 2.7% sulfur, and says it needs complex refineries with coking units. In September 2026 its average price was $93.75 a barrel, according to OPEC, about $20 below Brent. Data as of November 2, 2026.
Merey 16 at a glance
| What it is | A blend of extra-heavy Belt crude with lighter crudes |
| API gravity | 15.9° (EIA); other sources give 15° to 16.4° |
| Sulfur | 2.7% (EIA); other sources give 2.5% to 3.4% |
| Type | Heavy and sour (high sulfur) |
| Loading terminal | José (Anzoátegui) |
| Price, September 2026 | $93.75 a barrel (OPEC) |
| Price, 2025 average | $55.73 a barrel (OPEC) |
What is Merey 16?
It is Venezuela’s export blend: it does not come from a single well or field, but from combining extra-heavy crude with lighter crudes until the result can be sold. OPEC uses Merey to represent Venezuela in its reference basket, alongside the crudes of eleven other member countries, according to its statistical bulletin. Most of the oil behind it comes from the Orinoco Belt.
What does the “16” in Merey 16 mean?
The 16 is degrees API, the American Petroleum Institute scale that measures how heavy a crude is compared with water. Water is 10° API: the lower the number, the heavier the oil. At 16° it is heavy; Venezuela’s Santa Bárbara, at 39°, is light (EIA). Heavy crudes yield less gasoline and diesel per barrel and more residue, which is why they sell for less.
What is Merey 16 made of?
The base is extra-heavy Orinoco Belt crude, 8 to 10° API according to Shale24 (Últimas Noticias says 8 to 12). It is too thick to move through a pipeline, so it is mixed with something lighter. The sources describe two routes:
- Blending with lighter crude. The EIA says Mesa 30, produced at the El Furrial complex in Monagas and sold as its own stream, is blended with extra-heavy Belt crude to form Merey 16. Últimas Noticias adds Santa Bárbara.
- Upgrading. Four upgraders (Petrocedeño, Petropiar, Petromonagas and Petro San Félix) separate the diluent, cut water, sediment and sulfur, and turn the very heavy crude into a lighter one. According to Últimas Noticias they produce an upgraded crude of the Merey 16 type, at 16° API and 2.71% sulfur.
On proportions: Shale24 describes about 60% extra-heavy crude and 40% diluent. The sources give no official PDVSA recipe, and the blend varies from cargo to cargo.
How many degrees API and how much sulfur does it really have?
It depends on the source, because Merey 16 is a blend and not a fixed recipe:
| Source | API gravity | Sulfur |
|---|---|---|
| EIA | 15.9° | 2.7% |
| Últimas Noticias (upgrader) | 16° | 2.71% |
| El Universal | 16.4° | 2.99% |
| Shale24 | 15° to 16.2° | 2.5% to 3.4% |
Shale24 also gives a density of about 1,010 kilograms per cubic meter, but it is a single secondary source and I could not confirm it. For an exact figure you need the assay of each cargo.
What is the price of Merey 16?
OPEC publishes Merey’s average by year and by month. These are the annual averages from its 2026 statistical bulletin, next to the EIA’s Brent spot:
| Year | Merey 16 | Brent spot | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $51.45 | $70.86 | $19.41 |
| 2022 | $76.96 | $100.93 | $23.97 |
| 2023 | $64.37 | $82.49 | $18.12 |
| 2024 | $65.26 | $80.52 | $15.26 |
| 2025 | $55.73 | $69.14 | $13.41 |
The difference is our own calculation: the EIA’s Brent minus OPEC’s Merey. In 2026, per OPEC monthly reports cited by the press, Merey averaged $90.47 in April and $93.75 in September, its highest in more than ten years. Today’s Brent and WTI prices, and the latest Merey average, are in the Spanish-language page precio del petróleo hoy.
Why does Merey 16 sell below Brent?
For three reasons the sources repeat:
- It is heavier and has more sulfur. It yields fewer valuable products and costs more to refine. The EIA says it needs complex refineries with coking units.
- Few buyers can take it. Not every refinery can process it.
- Freight and sanctions make the trip dearer. According to Signal Maritime, cited by the Rio Times, an Aframax tanker (about 700,000 barrels) from José to the U.S. Gulf Coast cost about $3.5 million in September 2026, roughly $5 a barrel, versus $1.35 million at the start of the year.
Recent discounts reported by Reuters, per the Rio Times: the traders Vitol and Trafigura were bidding $18 to $20 below Brent in late September; PDVSA had agreed with some joint-venture partners on $12 to $13 below, according to one source. In August Reuters put it about $14 under Brent.
Who buys Merey 16?
According to Reuters (via the Rio Times), the traders Vitol and Trafigura sell and ship more than half of Venezuela’s exports: about 597,000 barrels a day in August 2026, out of 1.17 million in total. In July, Phillips 66, Reliance, Repsol and Eni were buying directly from PDVSA. The EIA said the U.S. is the main destination for Venezuelan crude overall, and that Merey appeals to U.S. and Chinese refiners. Shale24 names China and India as the main buyers in January 2026.
Which refineries can process Merey 16?
Those with cokers and deep-conversion units, as the EIA states explicitly. They are concentrated on the U.S. Gulf Coast, in parts of Europe and in large hubs in India and China, per the analyses consulted. CITGO’s three refineries were designed for heavy crude like Venezuela’s (who owns CITGO). None of the sources I read gives a full list of refineries that run Merey 16.
Is it the same as Venezuela’s other crudes?
No. Venezuela exports several grades, and the EIA compares them:
| Crude | API gravity | Sulfur |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Bárbara | 39.3° | 0.48% |
| Mesa 30 | 29.1° | 1.08% |
| Hamaca (upgraded) | 26° | 1.55% |
| Monagas 18 (upgraded) | 18° | 3.34% |
| Merey 16 | 15.9° | 2.7% |
| Boscán | 10.7° | 5.2% |
Boscán is the heaviest and highest in sulfur; part of its volume went to China as loan repayments, per the EIA. Hamaca and Monagas 18 come from upgraders that turn 8.5° crude into a lighter one.
Where is it exported from?
Most of it ships from the José terminal on the Anzoátegui coast, according to Shale24 and the Rio Times. The Hamaca and Petromonagas upgraders are also there (EIA).
How much Merey 16 does Venezuela produce?
There is no public figure. Venezuela produced about 1.2 million barrels a day in October 2026 (PDVSA), but that adds up all grades, and I found no source saying how much is Merey 16. Total exports were 1.17 million barrels a day in August, per the Rio Times.
Why is it called Merey?
I found no reliable source explaining the name. In Venezuela merey is also the word for the cashew fruit, but none of the sources I read connects the two uses, so I do not claim it.
Is Merey 16 part of the OPEC basket?
Yes. OPEC’s statistical bulletin includes it as Venezuela’s representative crude in the OPEC Reference Basket (ORB), a production-weighted average of member countries’ crudes. The basket was $110.81 in September 2026, according to reports cited by the press.
What is not known
- Merey 16’s daily price. OPEC only publishes the monthly average; daily Merey prices come from Platts, a paid service.
- Which August figure is the “official” one. The Rio Times, with Reuters data, cites a formula price of $76.82 that Venezuela reported to OPEC for August, while a press calculation from the September report implies about $86.82. I could not reconcile the two with OPEC’s original report, whose website cannot be read from our server.
- The exact specifications. Sources give different API and sulfur ranges, and the blend changes cargo by cargo.
- The real blend ratio. PDVSA does not publish it.
- How much of Venezuela’s oil is Merey 16, and how much of it sells today without an extra discount.
More: the Spanish-language oil price today, oil companies in Venezuela, Venezuela’s oil history and Venezuela oil reserves.