Today, the most widely used resource to fulfill the global energy requirement is unarguably, Oil. There is a wide array of Oils, such as Petroleum, Diesel and Methanol. Out of these, the most used and the versatile type is petroleum.
So, it is in no way to difficult to imagine what sort of a fortune the countries who possess this valuable resource has made throughout the years. And it is easy to see the significant role the oil plays in the global economy and our day to day lives. Where does this oil come from? Which countries produce them and who controls it?
In the following parts, you’ll get your answers. To know where the biggest oil reserves are? who produce oil the most? Import and Export in the Global oil industry and who the biggest Consumers are.
Oil Exports Revenue By Country 2018
Source: Crude Oil Exports by Country
Largest Proved Oil Reserves In The World
Oil Reserves refers to the amount of crude oil that can be recovered technically at a financially feasible cost. Today, the largest proved World oil reserves are in,
- Venezuela owns 18.3% of global reserves
- Saudi Arabia owns 16.1% of global reserves
- Canada owns 10.3% of global reserves
- Iran owns 9.5% of global reserves
Saudi Arabia has the most operational oil fields although, according to the CIA’s World Factbook, Venezuela possesses the largest proved oil reserves in the world.
Countries By Proven Oil Reserves 2018
Biggest Oil-Producing Countries
In the Oil industry, “Production” means the quantity of crude oil extracted from the reserves, not the actual creation and refinement of the oil products such as Gasoline, Diesel, etc.
And the biggest 10 producers are,
- USA: 15.0 million barrels per day
- Saudi Arabia: 12.0 million barrels per day
- Russia: 10.8 million barrels per day
- Iraq: 4.5 million barrels per day
- Iran: 4.0 million barrels per day
- China: 4.0 million barrels per day
- Canada: 3.7 million barrels per day
- UAE: 3.2 million barrels per day
- Kuwait: 2.9 million barrels per day
- India: 2.5 million barrels per day
Countries By Oil Production 2019
Sources: Production of Crude Oil including Lease Condensate 2019, U.S. becomes world’s largest oil producer
Top Countries By Oil Export
As the term is coined as “Black Gold” for oil, these are the biggest oil-producing nations in the world who influence the global economy and geopolitics in various means with the power of Black Gold.
Following the 1973 Oil Crisis, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries or OPEC was formed to control and coordinate the global oil supply and became a prominent and major force of influence in the industry, today. They are responsible for an estimated 41% of global petroleum production and hold 72.2% of “World’s Proven Oil Reserves”. Following is the list of OPEC Countries and their percentage supply out of the global total exports, with the first five nations being its founders.
- Kuwait: 4.1%
- Saudi Arabia: 16.6%
- Iraq: 7.6%
- Iran: 3.7%
- Venezuela: 2.5%
- Algeria: 1.6%
- Angola: 2.8%
- Congo: 0.0%
- Ecuador: 0.8%
- Gabon: 0.4%
- Libya: 0.8%
- Nigeria: 4.0%
- United Arab Emirates: 4.6%
- Equatorial Guinea: 0.6%
Countries By Oil Export 2018
Source: CIA’s World Factbook
Top Countries By Oil Import
Oil imports are directly related to the national oil consumptions which are explained below. The top region that import oil is the European Union with an estimated 14 million barrels per day. And the following are the top 5 oil-importing countries,
- China: 8.4 million barrels per day
- United States: 7.9 million barrels per day
- India: 5.1 million barrels per day
- Japan: 3.2 million barrels per day
- South Korea: 3.0 million barrels per day
These nations comprise of nearly 50% of the world population and are industrial nations all, with China being the largest single nation that imports oil and the country with the fastest-growing demand for oil and United States being the highest domestic consumption of oil.
Countries By Oil Import 2018
Sources: CIA’s World Factbook, EIA.gov
Biggest Oil Consuming Countries
As we mentioned at the beginning, oil is the main source of energy in many heavy industrial nations across the world. They constantly require oil to keep pushing forward their hungry industries and machines. Here is why oil is the most used energy source,
- High Energy Density: it means a small amount of oil could produce a large amount of energy
- Easy availability, infrastructure for transport and use
- Easy to produce and refine
- A constant power source and reliable availability
- Being low cost compared to the other renewable energy sources
In today’s Global Oil consumption, there are three major demand centers. They are,
- European Union
- United States
- Asia-Pacific Region
EU and USA have had a steady increase in consumption of oil since the 1980s yet the consumption in the Asia-Pacific region has nearly doubled since then. During the last 5O years
Almost 35% of the global energy requirement is supplied by oil. An estimated 100 million barrels of oil are used each day, more than twice it was fifty years ago and the demand is ever more increasing.
The largest oil consumer today is the United States. And nearly 80% of its total energy comes from fossil fuel, oil being the primary source. And the United States consumes nearly 20% of global oil consumption, nearly 20 million barrels of oil per day. With a share of 22% of Global GDP and with a population of only 4.27% out of the world population.
China is the second biggest consumer that consumes about 13% of the global share and that is more than 13 million barrels per day. However, since China’s population is nearly 20 percent of the world population, its demand for oil increases more rapidly than that of the United States.
Following are the 10 biggest consumers of oil and their share of percentage in the global consumption,
- United States: 20.0%
- China: 13.3%
- India: 5.0%
- Saudi Arabia: 3.9%
- Japan: 3.9%
- Russia: 3.2%
- Brazil: 3.0%
- South Korea: 2.8%
- Germany: 2.5%
- Canada: 2.5%
Oil Consumption By Country 2018
Source: EIA.gov
Question and Answer
Fossil Fuel or oil will run out in just 53 years if we continue the current rate of consumption and do not turn towards alternate energy sources.
In 2019, still, Saudi Arabia produces the most oils and Venezuela still holds the largest unused oil reserves in the world.
Eventually, we will run out of oil. Because oil is an “extremely slowly regenerating’’ almost non-renewable energy source. Will it be created again by nature? Yes of course, but in another million years.
Oil is millions of years old. Aquatic “Phyto-Planktons” and “Zoo-Planktons” and various other Prehistoric life forms died and were wasted/sedimented under the ground under high levels of heat, pressure and as a result of a prolonged process of Anaerobic Decomposition, fossil fuels were created.
The United States is the top oil-producing country in the world, with an average of 14.86 million b/d, which accounts for 15.3% of the world’s production. Oil-producing and oil-exporting are 2 separate events.
The US does import of oil from Venezuela even though the US Government has pose sanctions upon Venezuela economically. Mostly US imports “Crude oil” from Venezuela and in 2018, US refiner company Citgo Petroleum imported more than 157,800 barrels per day from Venezuela.
The US imports oil. In fact, the USA is the biggest consumer of oil in the world. Accounting for nearly 20% of global fossil fuel consumption.
Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter of oil in the world currently, yet if you consider the size of oil reserves, Venezuela possesses larger reserves.
China covers a large geographical area enriched with fossil fuels. Yet oil is not among there primary economic concerns and imports much of their required oil from the middle east. Also, the search for new land and sea-based oil reserves are currently ongoing in China.
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