United States and World Hydrocarbon Resources and Endowment
Gary S. Swindell, Petroleum Engineering, Dallas, Texas
Having never seen the world hydrocarbon resources tablulated in one place, an attempt was made to assemble the information. It is a continuing effort and certainty incomplete. There is much better data available for the U.S. than the rest of the world. Note the consumption to date and how it compares with the total. Much of the endowment cannot be remotely considered as recoverable at present and may never be viable.
The data are from a variety of sources including Energy Information Administration, The Oil and Gas Journal 4/14/2008, 11/05/2007, 11/12/2007, 12/17/2007, 2/4/2008; SPE Paper 103514; 20th Century Petroleum Statistics (DeGolyer and MacNaughton); and others -
http://geology.usgs.gov/connections/mms/joint_projects/methane.htm
http://energy.usgs.gov/factsheets/Coalbed/coalmeth.html
http://geology.usgs.gov/connections/mms/joint_projects/methane.htm
http://www.naturalgas.org/overview/resources.asp
US Hydrocarbon Resources - Billions of barrels Equivalent
- leaving out coal resources which overwhelms the other numbers, and also methane hydrates
Coal reserves 69
Coal consumed 249
Coal remaining recoverable 975
Heavy Oil 100
Tar Sands 54
Oil Shale>10gal/Ton 6000
Oil consumed 197
Oil reserves 23 - (this number has been almost constant for 15 years as additions replaced production)
Oil remaining in place 307
Oil resources 216 (undiscovered and other resources)
Coalbed methane resources 124
Shale gas resources 215
Natural gas reserves 38
Natural gas resources 205
Natural gas consumed 184
US Hydrocarbon Resource Endowment - Billions of barrels Equivalent
Coal reserves 69
Coal consumed 249
Coal remaining recoverable 975
Coal remaining resources 13,032
Heavy Oil 100
Tar Sands 54
Oil Shale > 10 gal/Ton 6000
Oil consumed 197
Oil reserves 23 - (this number has been almost constant for 15 years as additions replaced production)
Oil remaining in place 307
Oil resources 216 (undiscovered and other resources)
Natural gas reserves 38
Natural gas consumed 184
Natural gas resources 205
Shale gas resources 215
Coalbed methane resources 124
Gas hydrate low estimate 1,648 (estimates are all over the map - this is a lower number)
World Hydrocarbon Resource Endowment - Billions of barrels Equivalent
- no good estimate found for Coal resources
Coal reserves 3,550
Coal consumed 1,884
Coal remaining recoverable 3,000 - (approximated from U.S. figures)
Coal resources - USA only 13,032 (have not found any data on the rest of the world)
Tar Sands, oil shale 3,000 - (probably very low - the U.S. alone has 2,118 BBBLe in oil shales and Canada's tar sands are estimated to be 1,700-2,500 BBBLe)
Oil Shale 10,000
Heavy oil 3,000
Oil consumed 1,011
Oil reserves 1,121 - (does not include undiscovered oil)
Oil remaining in place 7,668 - (in known fields)
Natural gas reserves 1,112
Natural gas consumed 547 - (historical data was not well recorded outside the U.S.)
Natural gas resources 2,172
Coabed methane resources 1,600 - (probably very low - extensively developed only in the U.S.)
Shale methane resources 2,844
Gas hydrate resources - ocean - low est. 5,333 - (estimates are all over the map - this is a lower number)
Gas hydrate resources - land - low est. 889 - (estimates are all over the map - this is a lower number)
Notes:
Conversions
1 BCF = 166,666 BBL
1 short ton = 20,754,000 btu
1 ft3 gas = 1031 btu
1 bbl = 5,800,000 btu
1 ft3 oil = 1,033,131 btu
1 short ton = 3.54724 bbl BTU equivalent
1 mcf = .17776 bbl BTU equivalent
1 bbl = 5.62 mcf BTU equivalent
Gary S. Swindell, Petroleum Engineering, Dallas, Texas