U.S. oil reserves top Russia, Saudi Arabia

The day after the United States celebrated Independence Day, news of the US holding more recoverable oil reserves than Saudi Arabia and Russian Federation promoted an already heightened sense of patriotism and economic hope across the nation.

In estimates which include potential reserves in recent discoveries and in yet to be discovered fields, US reserves total 264B barrels, ahead of 256B barrels in Russian Federation and 212B barrels in Saudi Arabia.

The US now holds an estimated 264 billion of barrels of reserves, compared with 256 billion barrels for Russian Federation and 212 billion barrels for Saudi Arabia., Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy said in a report. America’s reserves are larger than Saudi Arabia’s 212 billion and Russia’s 256 billion in oil reserves. This is 70 times the current production rate of about 30 billion barrels of crude oil a year, Rystad Energy said yesterday. BP reports government-supplied data on proved reserves, but how those numbers are derived in each country is different.

The massive expansion of America’s oil reserves is due to new drilling techniques like hydraulic fracturing, fracking, and horizontal drilling. “Texas alone holds more than 60 billion barrels of shale oil”, said the analysis from Rystad Energy. American reserves of crude oil and natural gas have risen for six consecutive years despite the US producing more oil and natural gas than any other country. Until worldwide crude prices climb enough to warrant opening up existing oil rigs and drilling untapped reserves, however, that potential is likely to remain unrealized. Back in 2011, a WikiLeaks document indicated a former Saudi oil executive told American energy officials that his country’s recent reserve estimates were likely “overstated”. For instance, the BP Statistical Review, which is based on individual reporting from nations, says that USA reserves still sit behind Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, Iraq, Venezuela, and Kuwait.

Global ranking Other global oil reserves data, like the closely watched BP Statistical Review based on official reporting from national authorities, show that the United States still ranks behind countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, Iraq, Venezuela and Kuwait. While there is a lot of oil left then, according to this estimate, most of it is of the unconventional variety – whether shale or oil sands or other difficult-to-produce forms of oil.

Moreover, Rystad argues that there are not uniform ways of measuring oil reserves from country to country. Saudi Arabia has 120 billion barrels of 2P oil reserves, compared to the U.S.’ 40 billion barrels.

“The upside potential is much larger in the United States”, Rystad said.

“Rystad Energy estimates recoverable oil in the USA from existing fields, discoveries and yet undiscovered areas amounts to 264bn barrels”.

Rystad calls itself “an independent oil and gas consulting services and business intelligence data firm offering global databases, strategy consulting and research products”. Many expect that growth to remain steady or even accelerate as people in fast-growing economies like India and China buy cars. “It becomes very clear that oil alone can not satisfy the growing need for individual transport”.