Oil Reserves

This is a list of countries with proven reserves of accessible oil in billion barrels, and is a rough estimate based on the ability to recover the oil by current technological and economic means.

Saudi Arabia - 262

Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporter in the world and plays a leading role in OPEC, which accounts for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, an international organization made up of eleven oil producing countries.

Canada - 180

Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands Project is what puts Canada on the map in this list. Current techniques for the surface mining and in situ methods to extract bitumen from oil sands are a positive future for oil in an overwhelming majority of the industry in Canada.

Iran - 126

Iran's economy relies heavily on oil export revenues, and as oil prices rise, the economy of Iran is improving. Iran is in the process of diversifying by investing some of its oil reserves in other areas, such as petrochemicals, and is creating more favorable climates for foreign investment.

Iraq - 115

According to oil industry experts, the exploration of new reserves may raise Iraq's 300 billion barrels. This has created global foreign interests to restore the country. The United States, United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and Japan are competing for major concessions complicated by disturbances in the fall of Saddam Hussein's era post.

Kuwait - 102

Although the loss was estimated at 2% of total oil reserves, Kuwait has recovered fully from the invasion of Iraq. KPC, or Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, has grown to become one of ten largest oil companies in the world.

United Arab Emirates - 98

At one point an underdeveloped region in 1985, the UAE, the highest income per capita in the world. The largest areas of petroleum production occur in two of the seven components of the UAE, these being Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is regarded as a state of oil in the same sense as Kuwait.

Venezuela - 77

Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world, and a founding member of OPEC. Oil production has been hampered at times due to protest and controversy, but the country remains an active contributor to the global oil production.

Russia - 60

Russia has the world's largest natural gas reserves, coal reserves in the second row and the largest oil reserve in the eighth. The country is the world's largest exporter of natural gas and oil exporter in the second row. Reorganization of the Russian energy sector has shown improvements in the industry over the last few years.

Libya - 39

While sanctions against Libya were removed by U.S. President Bush and the United Nations, the Libyan authorities cautiously optimistic about the prospects of foreign countries in the socialist economy leads. However, the lifting of sanctions allows Libya to move forward.

Nigeria - 35

Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa, and is a major oil supplier to both the U.S. and Western Europe. Proven oil reserves should be expanded to 40 billion barrels by 2010