World's Top 23 Proven Oil Reserves Holders, Jan 1, 2013 -- OGJ

by David Rachovich

 

Estimated Proved Oil Reserves

Rank	Country	Proved reserves (billion barrels), Jan 1, 2013	Proved reserves (billion  barrels), Jan 1, 2012	Proved reserves (billion barrels), Jan 1, 2011	Share of total, Jan 1, 2013
1.	Venezuela^	297.6	211.2	211.2	18.2%
2.	Saudi Arabia*^	265.4	264.5	260.1	16.2%
3.	Canada	173.1	173.6	175.2	10.6%
4.	Iran^	154.6	151.2	137.0	9.4%
5.	Iraq^	141.4	143.1	115.0	8.6%
6.	Kuwait*^	101.5	101.5	101.5	6.2%
7.	United Arab Emirates^~	97.8	97.8	97.8	6.0%
8.	Russia	80.0	60.0	60.0	5.0%
9.	Libya^	48.0	47.1	46.4	2.9%
10.	Nigeria^	37.2	37.2	37.2	2.3%
11.	Kazakhstan	30.0	30.0	30.0	1.8%
12.	China	25.6	20.4	20.4	1.6%
13.	Qatar^	25.4	25.4	25.4	1.6%
14.	United States	20.7	20.7	19.1	1.3%
15.	Brazil	13.2	14.0	12.9	0.8%
16.	Algeria^	12.2	12.2	12.2	0.7%
17.	Angola^	10.5	9.5	9.5	0.6%
18.	Mexico	10.3	10.4#	10.4	0.6%
19.	Ecuador^	8.2	7.2	6.5	0.5%
20.	Azerbaijan	7.0	7.0	7.0	0.4%
21.	Oman	5.50	5.5	5.5	0.3%
22.	India	5.48	5.6#	5.7	0.3%
23.	Norway	5.37	5.32	5.7	0.3%
World total		1,637.9	1,520.1#	1,469.6	100.0
Total OPEC**		1,204.7	1,112.9	1,064.8	73.6%

Notes: Where possible, OGJ uses data from its surveys and published official estimates. Most reserves estimates come from governments, which control most reserves. Government reserves estimates frequently are influenced by geopolitical pressures. Two big reserves increases this year are from countries where geopolitical controversy is routine: Iran and Venezuela. Having moved large volumes of extra-heavy crude oil into the reserves classification in recent years, Venezuela claims 298 billion bbl. Iran has raised its reserves estimate to 154.6 billion bbl. For Russia, which doesn't disclose country reserves, estimates vary greatly. OGJ has been conservative in its estimates for Russia but this year increases its estimate by one-third for the world's top producing country to 80 billion bbl. Although many giant Russian fields are mature, the country is considered underexplored, underdeveloped, and amenable to improved production efficiency with the growing application of modern technology. Moreover, a push into the Russian Arctic offshore is set to begin. For the US, OGJ relies on what had been annual reserves estimates by the Energy Information Administration. Because of budget cuts, however, EIA hasn't updated its reserves estimates … . The estimate here therefore is unchanged. For China, where exploration is active on a number of fronts, the oil reserves estimate is up about 5 billion bbl at 25.6 billion bbl. Please read "Global oil production up in 2012 as reserves estimates rise again,"OGJ, Dec. 3, 2012. Proved/proven oil reserves - 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.

*Excluding one-half of the reserves in the Neutral Zone.

^OPEC member.

~Including Abu Dhabi – 92.2, Dubai – 4.0, Sharjah – 1.5 and Ras al-Khaimah – 0.1.
**OPEC has a total of 12 member countries: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Rounding out the total OPEC reserves are the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia's Neutral Zone reserves of 5 billion bbl.

#Revised figure.

Sources: "Worldwide Look at Reserves and Production [Table]," Oil & Gas Journal, Dec, 2012; and previous reports.

(Also, please see my post "World's Top 23 Proven Oil Reserves Holders, Jan 1, 2012 -- OGJ," our post "World's Top 22 Proven Oil Reserves Holders, Jan 1, 2011 -- OGJ" and my post "Top 12 Proven Oil Reserves Holders in Africa, Jan 1, 2013 -- OGJ. " -- D.R.)