Curiosity #14 How much Oil is left in the world?
Hey Guys, Welcome to my curious article series.
Are you really curious to know how much oil is actually left in the world?
Well then Lets get Started.
As we all know unlike other newer Forms of crude oil is also a non-renewable resources, which means the more we use it, the lesser it becomes and one day its all gone. There are vast reservoirs of oil located in the number of countries. But The oil that can actually be extracted is referred as "proven or unproven". Proven reserves simply means there is a 90% chance that the oil can be extracted. Unproven reserves means that we know the oil is there but can extract it because of various reasons. Generally oil estimates are only taken from proven oil reserves.
So How much Oil is still left?
Well in 2014 , The Organization of petroleum exporting Countries reported that 1.5 trillion barrels of proven reserves are still available.
But wait its shocking to know that , 1 trillion barrels have been already used since the commercial oil drilling began in 1870s.
Well at this stage , the oil consumption have been increasing very rapidly. Today, the whole world consumes about 34 billion barrels per year and China alone accounts for have that usage in the next 5 years. But China only holds 32 billion barrels in total. 80 % of the oil comes from the 12 members of The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) , with two third of the oil comes from the middle east.
But wait there is more. The single largest oil reserve in the world is located in the Venezuela, South America. They hold almost 300 billion Barrels which is 20 % of the worlds oil reserve. Saudi Arabia is at the second place with the estimate of 256 billion Barrels. But the third place is taken away by Canada which is a Non-OPEC country with 173 billion barrels.
The most recent estimates by the British petroleum were we have only approximately 50 years before the oil run out.
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We are not running out! In 1910, we only had 20 years of oil left! in 1920 we only had 20 years of oil left, In 1930 we only had 20 years of oil left! Get the drift? No company in their right mind will spend money looking for oil they cannot recover for 20 years. It is simple economics, why find it now if we will not pump it for 20 years. - A Geologist.
Your article only seems to cover reserves and not any remaining new sources.
The tar sands and other shale rock could probably provide a lot of oil if necessary, at least when the price of crude is high enough to make extraction profitable.
yup you are right. I will include this in my next article. thanks