Some interesting oil industry statistics - reserves

©1997-2009 Gibson Consulting

Perspective US Gov't
Index US imports - from where? US imports - volume US exports Largest exporters Largest importers Iraq By company
Costs Largest refiners US Capacity Capacity by state Product imports Market share Transportation
Leading countries US Production Leading US States Largest world oil fields Largest US oil fields Largest world gas fields US Production Peak Production Peak Number of wells US - Wells drilled/producing US - shut-in wells
How many gallons? How much gasoline? How much plastic? Production costs Finding costs US Gov't profits Uses of oil
US - oil US - gasoline World Changes By sector US vs China
World US US - Bakken US - shut-in wells Peak Oil Drill Baby Drill Largest world oil fields Largest US oil fields Largest world gas fields
Largest that don't use imported oil Profits Seven Sisters
Who sets the price? Price history Factors Why so high? Gasoline price breakdown Historic change in pricing basis
How much in a barrel? Retailer Profits No. of stations US Price breakdown Sales per station No Middle East oil Price in other countries
Producers Importers Companies Oil Fields Gas Fields Reserves Profits
Exports to Japan ANWR
Drill Baby Drill Salvation in Canada? US - Bakken Essay
Made of dinosaurs? Why so much in the Mid East? Who owns it? Abiotic oil
Miscellaneous Myths Alternatives
Finding costs Hot areas Bakken Time to bring onstream
How many gallons in a barrel? How much gasoline from a barrel? Where to buy gas not from Mid East? Who sets the price of oil? Why does Alaska export oil to Japan?
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20 largest oil producers, in million barrels per day:
(source: mostly Oil & Gas Journal, World Oil, and EIA)

20 largest oil producers & their reserves
Country
and 2004 rank		Estimated Reserves
(billion barrels, 2006)
Source		 2004 Production
Includes Crude Oil, NGL,
Condensate, Refinery Gain
1. Saudi Arabia267 billion bbl 10.4 mb/d
2. Russia609.3 mb/d
3. USA21 8.7 mb/d
Crude oil = <5.2 mb/d
4. Iran1324.1 mb/d
5. Mexico133.8 mb/d
6. China183.6 mb/d
7. Norway83.2 mb/d
8. Canada179
(includes tar sands)		3.1 mb/d
9. Venezuela792.9 mb/d
10. United Arab Emirates982.8 mb/d
11. Kuwait104
(some sources say 48 billion -
the difference is 5% of world reserves)		2.5 mb/d
12. Nigeria362.5 mb/d
13. United Kingdom42.1 mb/d
14. Iraq1152.0 mb/d
15. Other FSU
Mostly Kazakhstan + Azerbaijan		471.9 mb/d
16. Algeria121.7 mb/d
17. Brazil111.5 mb/d
18. Libya391.5 mb/d
19. Indonesia41.1 mb/d
20. Angola60.9 mb/d

Natural Gas

The largest gas fields in the world are in the West Siberian Basin (including Urengoy, Yamburg, Zapolyarnoye), and contain more gas (well over 1200 trillion cubic feet for the whole basin) than in all the known gas fields in the US, including Alaska (the US has a lot of additional gas associated with oil fields). The Siberian gas reservoirs are Cretaceous fluvial clastics in drape anticlines above Triassic-Jurassic horsts.

The following table shows estimated proved gas reserves for the top 16 countries. Numbers for gas reserves may be misleading, as they may or may not include "associated" gas (as in associated with oil fields). Source for both of the following tables is mostly the US Energy Information Administration, which has a very useful web site for statistics.

12 top natural gas countries
(by reserves, 2005)
CountryReserve estimate
World6,300 trillion cubic feet
1. Russia1,680 trillion cubic feet (some say 2,300 tcf)
2. Iran940 trillion cubic feet
3. Qatar910 trillion cubic feet
4. USA265 trillion cubic feet
5. Saudi Arabia235 trillion cubic feet
6. United Arab Emirates212 trillion cubic feet
7. Nigeria176 trillion cubic feet
8. Algeria161 trillion cubic feet
9. Venezuela151 trillion cubic feet
10. Iraq110 trillion cubic feet
11. Kazakstan106 trillion cubic feet
12. Turkmenistan102 (maybe 535) trillion cubic feet
13. Indonesia90 trillion cubic feet
14. Malaysia87 trillion cubic feet
15. Norway84 trillion cubic feet
16. China79 trillion cubic feet

Compiled by Dick Gibson, Gibson Consulting, 301 N. Crystal St., Butte, MT 59701

Want to know more?
Gibson Consulting recommends: Read The Prize, by Daniel Yergin.


©1997-2009 Gibson Consulting
Background image of drilling well in Utah in 1981 © 2000 by Dick Gibson