[A-List] Energy Intelligence Survey Shows World Oil Reserves Are Not Being Fully Replaced

[Macdonald Stainsby <mstainsby@xxxxxxxxx>]

Energy Intelligence Survey Shows World Oil Reserves Are Not Being Fully 
Replaced
4/16/2007

New York, NY - The world is currently producing more oil annually than 
it is replacing with new reserves. That sobering conclusion emerges from 
a new survey of global liquids reserves published by Energy Intelligence.

In contrast to the gradual rise in global oil reserves that has been 
reported annually in most surveys based on public sources, the new 
assessment shows that the trend in worldwide liquids reserves is 
actually one of stagnation and modest decline. The PIW Reserves Survey

shows global oil reserves declining by almost 13 billion barrels, or 
0.9%, over the last two years to 1.459 trillion bbl at the end of 2006 
on a "proved plus probably" basis. Global oil reserves are liquid 
hydrocarbons, natural gas liquids, tar sands and crude oil, that are 
economically recoverable at current prices.

The PIW survey uses a somewhat broader definition of reserves than the 
other surveys based on public sources and it applies that definition 
consistently and systematically across all countries, fully accounting 
for production declines and new additions.

The main reason for the poor performance in growing reserves is a lack 
of additions to reserves from new discoveries, which account for 20% or 
less of additions in the last few years. The high oil prices and sharply 
increased upstream spending budgets of most oil companies have not yet 
provided any significant improvement in global additions to reserves, 
but more time may be needed. For 2006, the big increases in reserves 
were led by Brazil and Kazakhstan. Among the top 20, only eight 
countries saw increases last year, while the rest were flat or in decline.

The PIW survey also confirms earlier suspicions about the overstatement 
of reserves by Kuwait and some other Opec producers. At the same time, 
the survey also indicates that reserves in Russia and some other 
non-Opec countries are much higher than is generally reported.

SOURCE: Energy Intelligence
--
Macdonald Stainsby
Coordinator, http://oilsandstruth.org
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