World Oil Reserves

[michel]

Energy: Oil reserves (Top 50 Countries)

Having seen the comments of "Why we are still in Iraq",
I though t you might be interrested in this:-
Country

Description1.Saudi Arabia264.2 billion barrels (includes half of Neutral Zone -- NZ) (1/1/02E)2.United Arab Emirates97.8 billion barrels (1/1/02E)3.Iran89.7 billion barrels (1/1/03E)4.Russia48.6 billion barrels (1/1/02E)5.Libya29.5 billion barrels (1/1/02)6.China24 billion barrels (1/1/02E)7.United States22.4 billion barrels (1/1/03E)8.Qatar15.2 billion barrels (1/1/02E)9.Norway9.4 billion barrels (1/1/02E)10.Algeria9.2 billion barrels (1/1/03E)11.Brazil8.4 billion barrels (1/1/02)12.Oman5.5 billion barrels</FONT> (1/1/02E)13.Angola5.4 billion barrels (1/1/02E)14.India5.4 billion barrels (1/1/03E)15.Kazakhstan5.4 billion barrels (1/1/02E)16.Indonesia5.0 billion barrels (1/1/01)17.United Kingdom4.9 billion barrels (1/1/03)18.Ecuador4.6 billion barrels (1/1/03E)19.Yemen4 billion barrels (1/1/03)20.Egypt3.7 billion barrels (1/1/03E)21.Australia3.5 billion barrels (1/1/02E)22.Malaysia3.0 billion barrels (1/1/02E)23.Argentina2.9 billion barrels (1/1/02E)24.Gabon2.5 billion barrels (1/1/02E)25.Syria2.5 billion barrels (1/1/03E)
Source:- www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/e...

 

[michel]

Bearing in mind that some of these figures are estimates - and that most are two or three years out of date, what do these figures mean to you?

 

[niceguy]

That the price of oil will go up up up!!! Lesson: don't buy a SUV...

 

[Engyo]

Actually, the question is whether or not we have reached "peak oil". Peak oil is the point at which oil production peaks and begins to decline, due to diminishing reserves. This is somewhat counterbalances by technological advances which allow for more efficient production of existing wells; but inevitably there will come a point where the supply diminishes.

Some think we have already reached this peak. While world demand for oil continues to grow in double-digit percentages, production is not keeping up (witness current oil prices). What scares me is that we have no real alternative on the horizon which can replace hydrocarbon fuels as our major fuel source. If we did, then the remaining oil would be more than sufficient to supply our appetite for plastics and lubricants, etc., as long as we stop burning the vast majority of it.

The big question here is: What happens to all of our varied societies around the world, when we no longer have relatively inexpensive fuel to support our infrastructures and lifestyles? For an example: Think about how you buy food today, and where it comes from. Without the global transport system, how much of that food would still be available to you? Fruit & produce from other parts of the world (especally out-of-season), packaged foods from all over, imported anything. Another example: What happens to a desert country like Saudi Arabia (or the southwest US) without readily available air conditioning? Medical technology & service also relies on our vast transportation networks; so does most of the rest of our societies.

If forced back to a mainly agrarian society (local farms and local self-sufficiency) do you still want to live where you do today?

 

[michel]

[PART QUOTE=Engyo]
..............."If forced back to a mainly agrarian society (local farms and local self-sufficiency) do you still want to live where you do today? "...........................[/PART QUOTE]

Exactly. This has been a bug-bear of mine for years. England is much much smaller than the States; even here, the amout of fuel used (with it's associated polution) by 'commuting to work' must account for a substancial proportion of the total usage.

Yet this is 'modern society' - where it has become a 'status symbol' here at any rate, to choose where you live, not in the context of where you work, but one of 'Social standing'.

I might add that through my working life, I never lived more than 1/2 hour's walk from Home. And I did walk.

 

[Ori]

What will happen when it runs out though?

 

[michel]

What will happen when it runs out though?

Man will will adapt; he will have to. The only reason he is not preparing to adapt for that time is the $ involved in the motor car industry, and in oil.

 

[niceguy]

Regarding peek oil, don't forget that the demand for oil become ever larger, The people in the developing nations want to have what we have here in the western world and frankly, there is no way that that will happen, the resorces are simply not avalible. I fear that we will see a series of "oil wars" in the future. Some would even say that the war against Iraq was just such a war. I wounder what the historians will say about the matter a centuary from now.

 

[Ori]

Maybe people could actually learn to ride a bike or walk?

 

[michel]

Maybe people could actually learn to ride a bike or walk?

From my memory of the time I visited Florida, I would have thought that impractical in the States, although here in England it would have more chance of being put into practice.

 

[niceguy]

We have lots of specific bicycle roads here. It is legal to walk on them as well but cars and motorcyckles are banned from thease roads and they form an extensive network in most swedish cities and towns.

 

[Fluffy]

Mother nature is going to breath a sigh of relief. Personally, I view the shortage of oil as a good thing. It would be far, far worse if we had an infinite supply of the stuff because we would just destroy ourselves through pollution. I wish there was less out there.

 

[niceguy]

My hope is that they gradual decreased avaliblility will spur the development of alternatives. There are however the risk that the increased cost involved in extracting the remaining oil reservs may force oil companies to simply not being able to take the precausions that they can afford today. Extracting the remaining oil may be a dirty buissnies indeed.

A parallel to this is Germany's extensive use of brown coal, this coal are less efficient and more dirty then black coal. They are also leveling whole communities in their massive strip mining for this recource.

 

[EnhancedSpirit]

Maybe people could actually learn to ride a bike or walk?

I would take a horse over a bike.

 

[Original Freak]

Maybe people could actually learn to ride a bike or walk?

It takes me 20 minutes each way to drive to work at 120Km/h (120 kilometer/hour = 74.5645431 mile/hour (mph)) and with that I still only spend 2 hours a day with my kids before I put them to bed. If I had to walk or ride a bike I would just sleep in a cot in my office. yay.

I'm waiting for the oil to start running out, I'm looking forward to the day when they say ... it's happening for 100% sure and we get to see all the technology and ideas they've been hiding in preperation for this day.

 

[Engyo]

I'm waiting for the oil to start running out, I'm looking forward to the day when they say ... it's happening for 100% sure and we get to see all the technology and ideas they've been hiding in preperation for this day.

Personally I don't believe there are any "hidden" ideas out there yet. They would be too profitable right now for people to be keeping them back. I think we genuinely don't have any alternatives, and are more desparately in need of them than most people are aware.

 

[jewscout]

I think we have a while before we start to see a real scare on the oil...they are finding ways of extracting oil from places where 20 years ago it was more difficult, also with the advent of hybrid cars and things like that we may see oil going farther than it did before...
but we should all make an effort to conserve, not just in gas prices...look around you and think about all the things that are in your life which are connected to oil in one way or another...
oil was in the automobiles that delivered everything you own, they are in the plastics that are used for pretty much everything, they are in the machines in factories across the globe...
when we see a real problem w/ oil it won't just be at the pump you'll feel the burn, but in everything in your everyday life...

 

[Crystallas]

As much as I think people are spoiled by the services and technologies that provide them(including myself being spoiled)
Unfortunately I think by the time oil is almost gone, another solution will come fourth, and every conspiracy and product witheld by big oil companies will no longer be hidden.
I dont think its so much sad to see gas powered cars to go extict. But sad to see all of the polymers we get from it become so heavily recycled and rare.

 

[EnhancedSpirit]

But sad to see all of the polymers we get from it become so heavily recycled and rare.

Personally I don't believe there are any "hidden" ideas out there yet. They would be too profitable right now for people to be keeping them back. I think we genuinely don't have any alternatives, and are more desparately in need of them than most people are aware.

Every thing that is petroleum based can be made with hemp oil as well. Plastic, paint, you name it, HEMP is the answer. Willie Nelson even drove a car on hemp fuel.

 

[Crystallas]

thats true too... hopefully by the time oil is gone, hemp plastic will no longer absorb water which is the biggest downfall of it for a lot of polymer usages, but its a pro for biodegradable disposable products.