Oil Production, Oil Supply, Petrol – Petroleum Production, Oil Exports

Oil production and oil supply have spiked following the discovery of oil reserves in the Al-Ghawar field (Saudi Arabia) in 1948 and the Saffaniyah field (Persian Gulf) in 1953. Oil production is usually expressed in terms of the number of barrels of crude oil extracted per day from drilling operations.

Oil Production: Major Countries

Based on various studies and reports published by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) for 2007, the following statistics emerge:

Saudi Arabia: This oil giant had 266.8 billion barrels of total proven oil reserves and produced 9.2 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia exported 8.04 million barrels per day, which accounted for 14% of the world’s total oil production.

Kuwait: The country had total proven oil reserves of 104 billion barrels. The country’s oil production stood at 2.6 million barrels per day and it was exporting 2.3 million barrels daily.

• United Arab Emirates (UAE): The total proven oil reserves in the UAE were 97.8 billion barrels. While the country produced 2.9 million barrels per day, it exported 2.54 million barrels.
• United States: The US had total proven oil reserves of 265.5 billion barrels and produced 8.45 million barrels daily, making the country the world’s third largest oil producer. However, the US exported only 1.05 million barrels per day.
• Russia: The total proven oil reserves in Russia amounted to 100 billion barrels and produced ten million barrels per day. Russia exported five million barrels of its daily production, making it the second largest exporter of oil.

• Iraq: The country had 115 billion barrels of total proven oil reserves. While Iraq’s oil production amounted to 2.4 million barrels per day, it exported 1.8 million barrels.
• Iran: Total proven oil reserves in Iran stood at 138.4 billion barrels. While the country produced 4.7 million barrels worth of oil daily, it exported 2.3 million barrels per day.
• Canada: The oil sands rich country had 54.2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and produced 3.4 million barrels per day.
• China: The total proven oil reserves in China were 16 billion barrels. Although the country’s oil production totaled 3.7 million barrels per day, it exported only 375,000 barrels daily.

It is clear from the above statistics that Saudi Arabia rules the oil industry, with its vast oil reserves and contribution to global oil exports. Although the US has large oil reserves, it does not export a large percentage of the oil it produces. Instead, the country is the largest oil importer, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) World Factbook published in 2008.