Oil Producing Nations

Global Overview


In two thousand-and-five, the worldwide crude oil production was nearly equivalent to eighty-four million barrels per day. The structure of the petroleum industry is subdivided into five main sectors which are the upstream, the downstream, pipeline services, offshore services, various services and supply. The upstream consists of the exploration of geographic areas which could hold commercially viable crude oil reserves, the development of discovered oil fields (the large ones called “elephant fields”) preparing them as such to the production phase. The downstream consists of sending crude oil to the refineries where it will be transformed making it as such suitable to enter the market (retailing phase) and sold to the consumer ; by the way, the downstream includes as well the shipment via oil tankers. Eventhough shipment on tankers is included in the downstream, the pipeline branch of the petroleum industry is so important that the American Petroleum Institute classified it alone alike the offshore (also called “marine”) branch which has been set independent from the upstream sector. Finally, the last sector, various services and supply, consists of activities such as Research And Development (R&D) etc. As for the oil companies, they are classified in three categories according to their size, this classification includes only the private sector. There are the Supermajors, only six private oil companies in the world hold this title : BP (British Petroleum), Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips, Shell, Total S.A. The second category is Majors, the third one is Independents (or Jobbers). Concerning countries, the most famous organization related to the petroleum industry is undoubtedly the OPEC (or Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) ; this international institution works as a cartel who’s objective is to coordinate oil-related activities of its members and by extent the World’s as well as they have got in their underground the largest part of worldwide oil reserves namely two-thirds and participate in thirty-five point six percent of the worldwide crude oil production ! Its headquarters are based in Vienna (Austria) since its creation in September 1960, in the Iraqi capital city Baghdad (Arab Republic of Iraq) mainly through Saudi-Venezuelan cooperation, more precisely by their respective ministers concerned with the matter namely Mr. Abdullah El Tariki (Minister Of Energy And Mines of The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia) and Mr. Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo (Minister Of Energy And Mines of The Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela) closely followed by The Kingdom Of Kuwait, The Empire Of Iran (now The Islamic Republic Of Iran) and The Hashemite Kingdom Of Iraq (now The Arab Republic Of Iraq). All these countries were later joined by The Kingdom Of Qatar in 1961, The Republic Of Indonesia and The “Jamahiriyaa” People’s Republic Of Libya in 1962, The United Arab Emirates in 1967, The People’s Democratic Republic Of Algeria in 1969, The Federal Republic Of Nigeria in 1971 and finally The People’s Republic Of Angola in 2001, two other members did temporarily join the organization but rapidly quit due to high membership fees (two million dollars) as well as an incompatibility between the quota of crude oil production fixed by The OPEC and needed local production to keep their economies on the move, these are Ecuador in Latin America and Gabon in Africa, they will be followed by Indonesia in 2008 apparently for the same reasons but these still remain unclear. On the other hand, The Arab Republic Of Syria, The Republic Of Sudan and The Republic Of Bolivia have been invited to join the organization and The Federal Republic Of Brazil is thinking of presenting membership proposal due to recent discovery of large oil fields in The Atlantic Ocean (five hundred million barrels). To round-up, the term of utmost importance when it comes to the financial aspect of the petroleum industry is petrodollar, this specific currency was born when it became clear that some countries had their economy so tied with oil export that almost all its currency income came from dollars earned through the selling of crude oil abroad. The name “petrodollar” was created in 1973 by Professor Dr. Ibrahim Oweiss (Economics Professor, Georgetown University).


Oil Production Related Top-Tens


* Top-Ten Oil Reserves, as of 2007 :


1) The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, 260 billion barrels (or 41 billion cubic meters)
2) Canada, 179 billion barrels (or 28.5 billion cubic meters)
3) The Arab Republic Of Iraq, 115 billion barrels (or 18.3 billion cubic meters)
4) The Islamic Republic Of Iran, 105 billion barrels (16.7 billion cubic meters)
5) The Kingdom Of Kuwait, 99 billion barrels (or 15.7 billion cubic meters)
6) The United Arab Emirates, 97 billion barrels (or 15.4 billion cubic meters)
7) The Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela, 80 billion barrels (or 13 billion cubic meters)
8) The Federation Of Russia, 60 billion barrels (9.5 billion cubic meters)
9) The “Jamahiriyaa” People’s Republic Of Libya, 41.5 billion barrels (or 6.6 billion cubic meters)
10) The Federal Republic Of Nigeria, 36.2 billion barrels (or 5.76 billion cubic meters)


* Top-Ten Crude Oil Production, as of 2007 :


1) The Federation Of Russia, 9.5 million barrels per day (or 1.51 million m3)
2) The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, 8.8 million barrels per day (or 1.4 million m3)
3) The United States Of America, 4.9 million barrels per day (or 0.78 million m3)
4) The Islamic Republic Of Iran, 3.9 million barrels per day (or 0.62 million m3)
5) The Arab Republic Of Iraq, 3.7 million barrels per day (or 0.59 million m3)
6) The Federal Republic Of Mexico, 3.2 million barrels per day (or 0.51 million m3)
7) Canada, 2.7 million barrels per day (or 0.43 million m3)
8) The Kingdom Of Kuwait & The United Arab Emirates, 2.5 million barrels per day (or 0.4 million m3)
9) The Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela, 2.4 million barrels per day (or 0.38 million m3)
10) The Federal Republic Of Nigeria, 2.3 million barrels per day (or 0.37 million m3)


* Top-Ten Oil Reserve Life To Current Level Of Crude Oil Production, as of 2007 :


1) Canada, 182 years
2) The Kingdom Of Kuwait, 108 years
3) The United Arab Emirates, 107 years
4) The Arab Republic Of Iraq, 101 years
5) The Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela, 91 years
6) The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, 81 years
7) The Islamic Republic Of Iran, 74 years
8) The “Jamahiriyaa” People’s Republic Of Libya, 63 years
9) The Federal Republic Of Nigeria, 43 years
10) The Federation Of Russia, 17 years


* Top-Ten Oil Fields :


1) Ghawar Field, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, at least 75 billion barrels
2) Burgan Field, Kingdom Of Kuwait, at least 66 billion barrels
3) Ferdows / Mound / Zagheh Field, Islamic Republic Of Iran, 38 billion barrels
4) Cantarell Field, Federal Republic Of Mexico, 35 billion barrels
5) Bolivar Coastal Field, Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela, at least 30 billion barrels
6) Safaniya-Khafji Field (Saudi Arabia) & Esfandiar Field (Iran), 30 billion barrels
7) Azadegan Field, Islamic Republic Of Iran, 26 billion barrels
8) Sugar Loaf Field, Federal Republic Of Brazil, at least 25 billion barrels
9) Rumaila Field, Arab Republic Of Iraq, 17 billion barrels
10) Romashkino Field, Federation Of Russia, at least 16 billion barrels


* Top-Ten Oil Companies, by size according to controlled oil reserves :


1) Saudi Arabian Oil Company (or Saudi Aramco), Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, 295 billion barrels
2) National Iranian Oil Company, Islamic Republic Of Iran, 287 billion barrels
3) Qatar Petroleum, Kingdom Of Qatar, 165 billion barrels
4) Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (or ADNOC), United Arab Emirates // Iraq National Oil Company, Arab Republic Of Iraq ; 137 billion barrels
5) Gazprom, Federation Of Russia, 115 billion barrels
6) Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Kingdom Of Kuwait, 107 billion barrels
7) Petróleos De Venezuela S.A., Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela, 102 billion barrels
8) Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Federal Republic Of Nigeria, 62 billion barrels
9) National Oil Corporation, “Jamahiriyaa” People’s Republic Of Libya, 45 billion barrels
10) Sonatrach, People’s Democratic Republic Of Algeria, 40 billion barrels

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