Proved Global Oil Reserves

Countries Continents	at end 1991	at end 2001	2010
Countries Continents	1000 million barrels	1000 million barrels	1000 million barrels
US	32.15	30.44	30.88
Canada	40.1	180.95	175.23
Mexico	50.93	18.77	11.7
Total North America	123.18	230.16	217.81

Argentina	1.69	2.88	2.53
Brazil	4.82	8.49	14.25
Colombia	1.89	1.85	1.9
Ecuador	1.53	4.64	6.16
Peru	0.83	0.98	1.25
Trinidad and Tobago	0.58	0.97	0.83
Venezuela	62.65	77.69	296.51
Other S. and Cent. America	0.61	1.38	1.34
Total S. and Cent. America	74.56	98.84	324.74

Azerbaijan	n/a	1.18	7
Denmark	0.62	1.35	0.9
Italy	0.83	0.83	1.42
Kazakhstan	n/a	5.41	30
Norway	8.82	11.6	6.77
Romania	1.5	1.16	0.61
Russian Federation	n/a	73.02	86.62
Turkmenistan	n/a	0.55	0.61
United Kingdom	4.17	4.54	2.81
Uzbekistan	n/a	0.6	0.6
Other Europe and Eurasia	60.92	2.23	2.2
Total Europe and Eurasia	76.82	102.42	139.5

Iran	92.87	99.09	151.17
Iraq	100	115	115
Kuwait	96.5	96.5	101.5
Oman	4.35	5.91	5.5
Qatar	3	16.84	24.69
Saudi Arabia	260.94	262.7	264.52
Syria	3	2.33	2.5
United Arab Emirates	98.1	97.81	97.81
Yemen	2.01	2.41	2.68
Other Middle East	0.08	0.13	0.28
Total Middle East	660.83	698.67	765.62

Algeria	9.2	11.32	12.2
Angola	1.45	6.5	13.5
Chad		0.9	1.5
Rep. of Congo (Brazzaville)	0.7	1.58	1.95
Egypt	3.54	3.67	4.5
Equatorial Guinea	0.31	1.12	1.71
Gabon	0.88	2.41	3.69
Libya	22.8	36	47.1
Nigeria	20	31.51	37.21
Sudan	0.31	0.7	6.7
Tunisia	0.41	0.53	0.43
Other Africa	0.82	0.62	2.27
Total Africa	60.38	96.81	132.72

Australia	3.23	4.96	3.84
Brunei	1.15	1.16	1.11
China	15.52	15.42	14.79
India	6.13	5.52	5.84
Indonesia	5.91	5.1	4.24
Malaysia	3.71	4.46	5.86
Thailand	0.22	0.59	0.45
Vietnam	0.24	2.21	4.41
Other Asia Pacific	0.92	1.13	1.23
Total Asia Pacific	37	40.51	41.71

Total World	1032.74	1267.39	1622.06
of which.. OECD	142.68	254.76	234.97
Non-OECD	890.07	1012.63	1387.1
OPEC	769.02	855.55	1167.33
Non-OPEC	204.75	330.41	329.39
European Union	8.3	8.78	6.78
Former Soviet Union	58.99	81.43	125.36

Canadian oil sands.. Total	32.4	174.66	169.19
of which.. Under active development	3.16	11.53	25.93
Venezuela.. Orinoco Belt			220

Countries Continents	at end 2011
Countries Continents	1000 million barrels	1000 million barrels	Share of total	R/P ratio
US	3.73	30.88	1.9%	10.79
Canada	28.24	175.23	10.6%	⁽¹⁾
Mexico	1.58	11.4	0.7%	10.63
Total North America	33.55	217.51	13.2%	41.67

Argentina	0.35	2.53	0.2%	11.4
Brazil	2.19	15.06	0.9%	18.81
Colombia	0.29	1.99	0.1%	5.86
Ecuador	0.91	6.16	0.4%	33.18
Peru	0.18	1.25	0.1%	22.25
Trinidad and Tobago	0.12	0.83	0.1%	16.74
Venezuela	46.31	296.51	17.9%	⁽¹⁾
Other S. and Cent. America	0.16	1.08	0.1%	22.07
Total S. and Cent. America	50.48	325.37	19.7%	⁽¹⁾

Azerbaijan	0.96	7	0.4%	20.61
Denmark	0.11	0.82	⁽²⁾	10
Italy	0.19	1.38	0.1%	34.26
Kazakhstan	3.94	30	1.8%	44.66
Norway	0.84	6.89	0.4%	9.25
Romania	0.08	0.61	⁽²⁾	18.68
Russian Federation	12.08	88.18	5.3%	23.51
Turkmenistan	0.09	0.61	⁽²⁾	7.62
United Kingdom	0.38	2.81	0.2%	6.99
Uzbekistan	0.09	0.6	⁽²⁾	18.91
Other Europe and Eurasia	0.31	2.22	0.1%	15.19
Total Europe and Eurasia	19.03	141.08	8.5%	22.33

Iran	20.77	151.17	9.1%	95.85
Iraq	19.32	143.11	8.7%	⁽¹⁾
Kuwait	13.99	101.5	6.1%	97.05
Oman	0.75	5.5	0.3%	16.92
Qatar	3.18	24.69	1.5%	39.26
Saudi Arabia	36.46	265.41	16.1%	65.16
Syria	0.35	2.5	0.2%	20.62
United Arab Emirates	12.98	97.81	5.9%	80.66
Yemen	0.35	2.68	0.2%	32.03
Other Middle East	0.09	0.66	⁽²⁾	37.08
Total Middle East	108.2	794.98	48.1%	78.66

Algeria	1.54	12.2	0.7%	19.34
Angola	1.83	13.5	0.8%	21.18
Chad	0.22	1.5	0.1%	36.15
Rep. of Congo (Brazzaville)	0.28	1.95	0.1%	18
Egypt	0.58	4.31	0.3%	16.03
Equatorial Guinea	0.24	1.71	0.1%	18.55
Gabon	0.51	3.69	0.2%	41.2
Libya	6.14	47.1	2.9%	⁽¹⁾
Nigeria	5.03	37.21	2.3%	41.48
Sudan	0.91	6.7	0.4%	40.53
Tunisia	0.06	0.43	⁽²⁾	15.01
Other Africa	0.3	2.19	0.1%	27.03
Total Africa	17.57	132.44	8.0%	41.22

Australia	0.44	3.88	0.2%	21.94
Brunei	0.15	1.11	0.1%	18.17
China	2.01	14.72	0.9%	9.86
India	0.76	5.71	0.3%	18.21
Indonesia	0.56	4.04	0.2%	11.76
Malaysia	0.77	5.86	0.4%	28.02
Thailand	0.06	0.45	⁽²⁾	3.51
Vietnam	0.6	4.41	0.3%	36.74
Other Asia Pacific	0.15	1.14	0.1%	10.4
Total Asia Pacific	5.47	41.27	2.5%	13.99

Total World	234.26	1652.62	100%	54.18
of which.. OECD	35.67	234.73	14.2%	34.69
Non-OECD	198.59	1417.89	85.8%	59.74
OPEC	168.39	1196.32	72.4%	91.48
Non-OPEC	48.66	329.39	19.9%	26.35
European Union	0.9	6.67	0.4%	10.8
Former Soviet Union	17.21	126.92	7.7%	25.79

Canadian oil sands.. Total	27.5	169.19
of which.. Under active development	4.22	25.93
Venezuela.. Orinoco Belt	35.28	220

Notes..

⁽¹⁾ More than 100 years
⁽²⁾ Less than 0.05%

Proved reserves of oil - Generally taken to be those quantities that geological and engineering information indicates with reasonable certainty can be recovered in the future from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions.
Reserves-to-production (R/P) ratio - If the reserves remaining at the end of any year are divided by the production in that year, the result is the length of time that those remaining reserves would last if production were to continue at that rate.
Reference(s) of data - The estimates in this table have been compiled using a combination of primary official Reference(s), third-party data from the OPEC Secretariat, World Oil, Oil and Gas Journal and an independent estimate of Russian and Chinese reserves based on information in the public domain.
Canadian oil sands 'under active development' are an official estimate. Venezuelan Orinoco Belt reserves are based on the OPEC Secretariat and government announcements. Reserves include gas condensate and natural gas liquids (NGLs) as well as crude oil.
Shares of total and R/P ratios are calculated using thousand million barrels figures.

Graphics of global Oil Reserves-to-production (R/P) ratios

World proved oil reserves at the end of 2011 reached 1652.6 billion barrels, sufficient to meet 54.2 years of global production. The continuing increase in official Venezuelan reserves pushed the South and Central American R/P ratio above 100. The large increase in Middle Eastern production reduced the region's R/P ratio despite an increase in reserves; the region holds 48.1% of global proved reserves.

Reference(s)..

Other Pages

Part 1..
Introduction to fossil fuels

Part 2..
Oil and Gas exploration

Part 3..
Oil & Gas extraction

Part 4..
Transport & Storage of Crude Oil & Natural Gas

Part 5..
Petroleum Refining Processes

Part 6..
Facts from the Oil Industry

Part 7..
Current Crude Oil prices

Part 8..
Proved Global Oil Reserves

Part 9..
Proved Natural Gas Reserves

Part 10..
The End of the Oil Age?