World's Top 23 Proven Oil Reserves Holders, Jan 1, 2015 -- OGJ

by David Rachovich


Estimated Proved Oil" Reserves 2011-2015

Rank	Country	Proved reserves (billion barrels), Jan 1, 2015	Proved reserves (billion barrels), Jan 1, 2014	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, 2015
1.	Venezuela^	298.4	297.7	297.6	211.2	211.2	18.0%
2.	Saudi Arabia*^	265.8	265.9	265.4	264.5	260.1	16.1%
3.	Canada	172.5	173.2	173.1	173.6	175.2	10.4%
4.	Iran^	157.8	157.3	154.6	151.2	137.0	9.5%
5.	Iraq^	144.2	140.3	141.4	143.1	115.0	8.7%
6.	Kuwait*^	101.5	101.5	101.5	101.5	101.5	6.1%
7.	United Arab Emirates^~	97.8	97.8	97.8	97.8	97.8	5.9%
8.	Russia	80.0	80.0	80.0	60.0	60.0	4.8%
9.	Libya^	48.4	48.5	48.0	47.1	46.4	2.9%
10.	United States	37.9	33.4#	28.95#	20.7	19.1	2.3%
11.	Nigeria^	37.1	37.1	37.2	37.2	37.2	2.2%
12.	Kazakhstan	30.0	30.0	30.0	30.0	30.0	1.8%
13.	Qatar^	25.2	25.2	25.4	25.4	25.4	1.5%
14.	China	24.6	24.4	23.7#	20.4	20.4	1.5%
15.	Brazil	15.3	15.0#	13.15	14.0	12.9	0.9%
16.	Algeria^	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	12.2	0.7%
17.	Mexico	9.8	10.1	10.3	10.4#	10.4	0.6%
18.	Angola^	9.0	9.1	10.5	9.5	9.5	0.5%
19.	Ecuador^	8.8	8.2	8.2		7.2	0.5%
20.	Azerbaijan	7.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	0.4%
21.	India	5.7	5.64#	5.48	5.6#	5.7	0.3%
22.	Norway	5.5	5.8	5.37	5.32	5.7	0.3%
23.	Oman	5.2	5.0#	5.5	5.5	5.5	0.3%
World total		1,655.9	1,647.4#	1,639.4#	1,520.1#	1,469.6	100.0
Total OPEC**		1,206.2	1,200.8	1,199.7#	1,112.9	1,064.8	72.8%

Notes: The published reserves figures rely on survey responses and official updates released by individual countries, which are not provided every year in many cases. OGJ changes its estimate for a particular country only when it receives evidence that a change is in order. Therefore, in a given reserves summary, a year-to-year change may not necessarily reflect a change that applies to the calendar year alone. According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate data, Norway's proved reserves of oil declined 5.6% to 5.5 billion bbl. Please read Conglin Xu and Laura Bell, "Global reserves, oil production show increases for 2014", OGJ, Dec. 1, 2014. 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.

"Crude oil and lease condensate.  

*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. The OPEC total excludes reserves of 5 billion bbl from the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia's Neutral Zone.

#Revised figure.

Sources: "Worldwide Look at Reserves and Production [Table]," Oil & Gas Journal, Dec. 1, 2014; and previous reports.