And WTF is up with Venezuela? Juss' sayin'...
With 303 billion barrels in proven oil reserves, Venezuela leads globally. Saudi Aramco pumps roughly 11 million barrels of oil per day, equal to about 10% of the global total, thanks to the country’s vast oil reserves.
In May, Iran’s exports of crude oil totaled 1.8 million per day. Overall, a third of the world’s oil is produced in the Gulf region.
Today, the world’s top 10 countries hold 1.5 trillion barrels in proven oil reserves.
While Venezuela tops the list, hyperinflation and U.S. sanctions on the Maduro regime are devastating its economy. Overall, nearly 14% of global oil production is sanctioned—primarily across OPEC+ nations.
There is a big difference between reserves and what is actually being produced. Reserves are speculative, estimates. And countries with big reserves don't necessarily have the ability to produce oil for the market.
ReplyDeleteexactly, Even Saudi is finding that getting those last 30% of the "Proven Reserves" is harder than they thought.
DeleteAnd all oil is not created equal. Some are heavy, some light. Some are sweet, some have a lot of sulfur or other trace elements that poison refinery catalysts.
ReplyDeleteNobody is going to drill new wells in Venezuela, so those reserves will stay in the ground pretty much forever. We start drilling new fields in the USA and our reserves will go up too, and there is a lot of evidence now that oil and natural gas are not 'fossil fuels' but come from carbon cycles deep in the mantle. That means a 'played out field' may get refilled over time and allow more extraction.
ReplyDeleteThe myth oil is recycle dinosaurs comes from a Sinclair marketing campaign. Coal is highly compressed peat and you can sometimes see leaf imprints in hard coal lumps.