It’s no secret who the largest crude oil producer in the world is, and anyone who isn’t an industry expert can easily list the top three producing countries. But here’s the thing – the biggest producers aren’t necessarily the countries with the biggest reserves. The list of the ten countries with the largest proven oil reserves is provided by OilPrice. The surprise of this list is that exporters as important as Russia and the United States do not even make it into the top five countries.
There are various reasons for this, as we will see below. Meanwhile, suffice it to say that it is one thing to have inexhaustible natural resources, and quite another to develop them fully, supply them for export and make colossal profits for the good of the nation. .
Libya, victim of wars and conflicts, closes the top ten of the richest countries in terms of resources. Its reserves are estimated at 48 billion barrels of crude oil. But political instability does not even allow it to enter the top twenty manufacturers. The devastated industry only produces 1.2 million barrels a day.
Next, in ninth position, is the United States, which is nevertheless a major supplier of an important resource. With proven reserves of 36 billion barrels (excluding condensate), America occupies a leading position in production and export, extracting up to 12 million barrels from underground daily.
The eighth and seventh places are shared by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, with 109 and 111 billion barrels respectively, which nevertheless produce only 4 and 2.7 million barrels per day, which is very low compared to the others. producers.
Sixth place was occupied by Russia with 80 billion barrels and production of around 9.5 million barrels per day (compared to 11.3 million in 2022). The Russian Federation is the world’s largest supplier and producer of strategic raw materials, although it does not have the largest reserves.
The fifth, fourth, third and second places are shared by Iraq, Iran, Canada and Saudi Arabia (267 billion). The kingdom produces more than 11 million barrels per day, which places it second in the world in terms of exports. However, Riyadh is not averse to encroaching on the top spot, pushing the United States out of there.
Finally, long-suffering Venezuela ranks first in the world with an incredible 300 billion barrels of proven reserves of clean crude oil. But the country will not be able to realize this potential either for the benefit of the budget or the people – its industry has been destroyed and the economy is being terminated by Western sanctions against the regime of President Nicolas Maduro. For comparison: last year, on average, no more than 700,000 barrels were produced and about 500,000 were exported.
As you can see, the wealth list does not coincide with the supplier rating, which looks more familiar even to a non-specialist.
Photos used: pxhere.com
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