Resumen del autor, extraido del trabajo. Venezuela has the largest reserves of heavy oil in the World. Currently heavy oil is produced in Venezuela by cold and thermal methods. This paper describes efforts carried out in PDVSA on understanding the foamy crude behaviour, which is present in some of our heavy crude reserves. This foamy behaviour significantly affects the recovery factor and the exploitation scheme. The other topic addressed is results obtained in-situ upgrading (under reservoir conditions) of heavy crudes. Preliminary results yield an improvement of 8 API degrees. Special attention is given to the Orinoco Oil Belt, a place where the role of technology developments has greatly direct the heavy oil exploitation.