19.01.2013 Views

World Energy Outlook 2006

World Energy Outlook 2006

World Energy Outlook 2006

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Saudi Arabia<br />

Canada<br />

Iran<br />

Iraq<br />

Kuwait<br />

UAE<br />

Venezuela<br />

Russia<br />

Libya<br />

Nigeria<br />

United States<br />

China<br />

Qatar<br />

Mexico<br />

Algeria<br />

Brazil<br />

Kazakhstan<br />

Norway<br />

Azerbaijan<br />

India<br />

Figure 3.2: Top Twenty Countries’ Proven Oil Reserves, end-2005<br />

179 (213)<br />

267(77)<br />

132 (94)<br />

115 (171)<br />

104 (117)<br />

98 (109)<br />

80 (103)<br />

60 (18)<br />

39 (65)<br />

36 (41)<br />

21(11)<br />

18 (14)<br />

15 (52)<br />

13 (11)<br />

11 (23)<br />

11 (19)<br />

9 (25)<br />

8 (8)<br />

7(48)<br />

(reserves-to-production ratio, years)<br />

6 (24)<br />

0 50 100 150<br />

billion barrels<br />

200 250 300<br />

Note: Canada includes proven non-conventional reserves.<br />

Source: Oil and Gas Journal (19 December 2005).<br />

rather than from new discoveries. Some of these revisions have resulted from<br />

higher oil-price assumptions, allowing some oil that is known to exist to be<br />

reclassified as economically exploitable and, therefore, moved into the proven<br />

category. The application of new technology has also improved reservoir<br />

management and boosted recovery rates. The amount of oil discovered in new<br />

oilfields has fallen sharply over the past four decades, because of reduced<br />

exploration activity in regions with the largest reserves and, until recently, a fall<br />

in the average size of fields discovered. These factors outweighed an increase in<br />

exploration success rates.<br />

Over the past ten years, drilling has been concentrated in North America, a<br />

mature producing region with limited potential for new discoveries. Less than<br />

2% of new wildcat wells drilled were in the Middle East, even though the<br />

region is thought to hold over 30% of the world’s undiscovered crude oil and<br />

condensates and is where the average size of new fields discovered in the ten<br />

years to 2005 have been higher than anywhere else (Figure 3.3).<br />

Chapter 3 - Oil Market <strong>Outlook</strong> 89<br />

© OECD/IEA, 2007<br />

3

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!