Resumen del autor, extraido del trabajo. The SINCOR Project was authorized in 1993 by the Venezuelan Congress as a Strategic Association with Maraven in order to develop, exploit and upgrade the extra heavy oil of the Orinoco Belt, and to market the synthetic crude (syncrude). TOTALFINA ELF and its Partners chose to perform a complete upgrading in Venezuela and to manufacture a high quality syncrude with a large market, in the USGC and in other parts of America and the World. The scope of the project is to produce 200 000 bbls/d of extra heavy oil of 7.5 to 9°API and to convert it into 180 000 bbls/d of 32°API syncrude with less than 0.1% sulfur, for a period of 35 years. The cold production scheme was preferred to cyclic steam injection as it is cheaper in terms of Capex and Opex, and more friendly to the environment. The extra heavy oil is produced from 1400 m long horizontal drains and with downhole pumps. It is diluted with a 47°API naphta to reduce the viscosity and facilitate transportation to the upgrader located on the coast, some 200 km north of the field Main Station. The diluent is recovered from the atmospheric distillation unit of the upgrader and returned to the field. Essentially, the upgrading consists in delayed coking of the vacuum residue and of hydrotreatment / mild hydrocracking of the distillates. The project is progressing according to the initial planning and budget. From October 2000 up to upgrader start up, an early production scheme shall be implemented to produce and to market 40 000 bbls/d of extra heavy oil diluted with 20 to 25 000 bbls/d of Mesa crude, without any upgrading. The upgrader is expected to start end of 2001 and the first commercial lifting of syncrude should take place early 2002. Technological progress such as 3D seismic and horizontal drilling made this project possible. It can be expected that over the 35 year life of the project, new technological breakthroughs shall permit to improve further the recovery factors and/or the profitability of the project.