Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Canada are the three leading countries with the most oil reserves. Industry leader BP plc estimates that there are 1.73 trillion barrels of oil reserves globally. Approximately 80% of the world's oil reserves are in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Thanks to the shale oil boom, the US is now sitting on more oil reserves than Russia, which estimates as having 256 billion barrels of untapped oil. The next-richest countries in terms of oil after that are: Saud Arabia (212 billion), Canada (167 billion), Iran (143 billion) and Brazil (120 billion).
Ghawar Field, Saudi Arabia The largest conventional oil field in th... The largest conventional oil field in the world at 280 km by 30 km. Ghawar, in the Eastern Province, was discovered in 1948, started production in 1951, and is owned and operated by Saudi Aramco.
The Berkut oil rig, located off the Russian Pacific coast near the island of Sakhalin, is the largest oil platform in the world. Weighing approximately 200,000 tons and situated 35 meters deep from the seafloor, this engineering marvel has an estimated maximum oil extraction capacity of 4.5 million tons annually.
The Ghawar oil field is thus the largest single supplier of primary energy on planet earth.
The world's largest oil field, Saudi Arabia's Ghawar Field, for instance, produces around 4 million barrels of oil per day, accounting for well over 1/3 of Saudi Arabia's total production.
World Oil Reserves
The world has proven reserves equivalent to 46.6 times its annual consumption levels. This means it has about 47 years of oil left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).
Lightest, Low-Sulfur, Low Tan Crude Oil Deposits in the World. The best crude oil in the world is found in Malaysia. “Tapis, the Malaysian crude benchmark traded in Singapore, has for a long time held the title of the world's most expensive grade.
Guyana has discovered nearly 11 billion barrels of offshore crude reserves, and the country is hoping that oil can help transform its economy and offset its ongoing poverty crisis.
The U.S. is currently both the largest producer and the largest consumer of crude oil in the world, with highly populated countries like China and India following close behind. If you would like to learn more about oil consumption by country, please refer to the data in the map and charts.
Oil Reserves in Australia
Australia has proven reserves equivalent to 2.9 times its annual consumption. This means that, without imports, there would be about 3 years of oil left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).
At the end of 2020, Australia had 2.4 billion barrels worth of oil reserves as opposed to 3.8 billion barrels in 2010. This was the lowest worth of oil reserves in the nation since 2010.
Global consumption of oil is currently estimated at roughly 96.5 million barrels per day. According to OPEC, global demand is expected to reach 109 million barrels per day. Estimations vary slightly, but it is predicted that - if demand forecasts hold - we will run out of oil from known reserves in about 47 years.
In the United States, life would be difficult without oil, as the country is dependent on it for driving, some medications, and many products. Electrical plants rely on gas-powered vehicles for supplying materials, so electricity could be severely limited as well.
Oil and gas wells can range in depth from a few hundred feet to more than 20,000 feet. In some parts of the world, wells go as deep as 30,000 feet, Zdarko says. Ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 feet deep, Aera's San Joaquin Valley wells are considered shallow.
The world's deepest oil well, known as Z-44 Chayvo, goes over 40,000 ft (12 km) into the ground – equal to 15 Burj Khalifas (the tallest skyscraper) stacked on top of each other. That's also equal to 2x the record height for air balloon flight.
Besides oil, minerals like iron, copper, bauxite, gold etc. deep are found inside the earth.
Venezuela – 304 billion barrels
Venezuela has the largest oil reserves of any country in the world, with more than 300 billion barrels of proven reserves.