Problems are beginning to emerge in Venezuela, one of the world's most solid countries from an energy viewpoint. This state has a long tradition in oil and has always been marked by clear contractual rules between suppliers and users. The government in Caracas owns the largest oil and natural gas fields with reserves amounting to 181.9 TCF, equivalent to 2.9% of the world's reserves. In spite of this, as shown by a study carried out by the Simon Bolivar University, 91% of Venezuela's natural gas "is gas associated to crude oil and therefore must undergo a purification process that increases the production costs that natural gas does not need." Experts say that, "Although there are eight regions in which gas is extracted, the network of pipelines is not sufficient for transporting the resource from one side of the country to the other for widespread distribution. The amount of capital needed is extremely high and, considering the current low price of gas, it is difficult to finance projects for enlarging the entire infrastructure for natural gas." Until four years ago Venezuela produced only 2.6 TCF of natural gas per year, of which 60% was used to improve the recovery of the extracted oil. Internal demand for natural gas is divided into 34.5% for the oil industry, 17.8% for producing electricity, 15% for the petrochemical sector and only 3.4% for domestic use, while 17.8% goes to the iron and steel industries and 11.6% for other uses. As one can observe the local market is as yet little developed compared, for example, to Chile, where over 50% of all industries use this natural resource as their main source for generating electricity.