List of countries by proven oil reserves explained

Proven oil reserves are those quantities of petroleum which, by analysis of geological and engineering data, can be estimated, with a high degree of confidence, to be commercially recoverable from a given date forward from known reservoirs and under current economic conditions.

Some statistics on this page are disputed and controversial—different sources (OPEC, CIA World Factbook, oil companies) give different figures. Some of the differences reflect different types of oil included. Different estimates may or may not include oil shale, mined oil sands or natural gas liquids.

Because proven reserves include oil recoverable under current economic conditions, nations may see large increases in proven reserves when known, but previously uneconomic deposits become economic to develop. In this way, Canada's proven reserves increased suddenly in 2003 when the oil sands of Alberta were seen to be economically viable. Similarly, Venezuela's proven reserves jumped in the late 2000s when the heavy oil of the Orinoco Belt was judged economic.

Sources

Sources sometimes differ on the volume of proven oil reserves. The differences sometimes result from different classes of oil included, and sometimes result from different definitions of proven. (The data below does not seem to include shale oil and other unconventional sources of oil such as tar sands. For instance, North America has over 3 trillion barrels of shale oil reserves, and the majority of oil produced in the US is from shale, leading to the paradoxical data below that the US will finish all its oil at 2024 production levels in 10 years.)

Comparison of proven oil reserves from some widely used sources (billions of barrels, 2021)! Source! Canada! Iran! Iraq! Russia! Saudi Arabia! United States! Venezuela
style=text-align:left BP[1] 168.1157.8145.0107.8297.568.8303.8
style=text-align:left OPEC[2] [3] 5.0208.6145.080.0267.238.8303.5
style=text-align:left US CIA[4] 170.3208.6145.080.0258.638.2303.8
style=text-align:left US EIA[5] 168.1208.6145.080.0261.660.5303.6

Countries

Reserve amounts are listed in millions of barrels.

Proven reserves (millions of barrels)
CountryUS EIA
[6] 		OPEC
[7] 		BP
[8] 		OthersOil production
Dec 2023 (bbl/day)[9] 		Years of
production
in reserve
(OPEC)304,000 303,220 303,800 770,000
(OPEC)259,000 266,260 297,600 8,950,000
(OPEC)209,000 208,600 155,600 4,084,000
170,000 4,421 172,200 171,000 4,971,000
(OPEC)145,000 147,223 145,000 4,375,000
(OPEC)102,000 104,000 101,500 2,644,000
(OPEC)98,000 113,000 97,800 3,300,000
80,000 99,000 107,800 10,126,000
(OPEC)48,000 74,363 48,400 1,248,000
48,300 32,773 68,800 43,629 13,295,000
(OPEC)37,000 37,453 37,100 1,573,000
30,000 30,000 30,000 1,897,000
26,000 27,000 26,000 4,172,000
25,000 25,244 25,244 1,322,000
13,000 12,634 13,000 16,848 3,585,000
(OPEC)12,000 12,200 12,200 1,160,000
11,000 11,000 555,000
8,300 8,273 8,000 486,000
8,100 6,376 8,500 1,894,000
7,800 8,384 7,800 1,235,000
7,000 7,000 7,000 601,000
5,800 6,537 10,800 9.700 1,903,000
5,400 5,373 5,300 1,040,000
4,600 4,495 5,680 4,409 589,000
4,400 4,400 4,000 165,000
3,800 3,500160,000
3,600 3,600 3,600 5,542 525,000
3,300 4,400 3,500 559,000
3,000 3,000 15,000
(OPEC)2,900 1,811 2,900 253,000
2,500 2,069 2,800 2,618 647,000
2,500 2,500 2,500 95,000
2,500
2,500 2,162 2,500 677,000
2,500 3,310 3,600 3,497 605,000
2,400 3,985 4,000 4,002 395,000
2,000 1,665 2,300 787,000
(OPEC)2,000 2,000 2,000 220,000
1,500 1,500 126,000
1,400 1350 89,000
1,300 5,000 1,500 71,000
1,100 1,100 1,100 100,000
(OPEC)1,100 1,100 1,100 79,000
900 1,400 1,489 44,000
700 175,000
600 600 57,000
600 600 600 191,000
600 594 600 32,000
500 236 83,000
500 600 595 119,000
400 439 600 550 58,000
400 400 33,000
400 395 20
300 400 136,000
200 700 830 54,000
200 210 22,000
200 49,000
200 198 29,000
200 167,000
200 19,000
200 158 31,000
200 14,000
200 2,300
200 6,000
200 100
100 7,100
100 900
100 141 28,000
100 124 30,000
100 229 32,000
100 151 18,000
100 29,000
86 6,000
77 13,000
71 10,000
61 12,000
44 3,500
40 11,000
40 6,200
35 8,800
35 200
28 3,000
20
15 1,000
15 15.0 1,400
15 15 1,000
12 12 15,000
12 35 20,000
12 700
12 300
10 1,500
9 100
8
6 800
2200
11,000
1 1 100
1,720,000 1,585,187 1,793,424 82,926,000
indicates links to "Oil reserves in Country or Territory" or "Energy in Country or Territory" pages.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Full report – Statistical Review of World Energy 2021 . 2024-08-10 . BP.
  2. Web site: 2022 OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin . 2024-08-10 . OPEC.
  3. Web site: Interactive charts . 2024-08-10 . asb.opec.org.
  4. Web site: Petroleum - The World Factbook . 2024-08-10 . www.cia.gov.
  5. Web site: 2021-12-01 . Largest proved reserve holders of crude oil . 2024-08-10 . eia.gov . XLSX.
  6. Web site: International - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) . www.eia.gov . 5 October 2023.
  7. Economou. Andreas. Fattouh. Bassam. 2021-05-07. OPEC at 60: the world with and without OPEC. OPEC Energy Review. 45. 1 . 3–28. 10.1111/opec.12205. 1753-0229. free. 2021OEnRv..45....3E .
  8. Web site: Statistical Review of World Energy. 8 June 2016. www.bp.com . 23 October 2023.
  9. Web site: International - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) . 5 October 2023 . www.eia.gov.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "List of countries by proven oil reserves".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.