Where is oil found?

The oil and natural gas that power our homes, transportation, and businesses are found in small spaces (called “pores”) between layers of rock deep within the earth.

Petroleum is produced in more than 100 countries around the world. Most of those countries produce both oil and natural gas; a few produce only natural gas.

Many factors can affect the level of a county’s oil production, such as civil unrest, national or international politics, adherence to quotas, oil prices, oil demand, new discoveries, and technology development or application. The largest oil reserves by country as of 1 January 2009 are:  

Notes: Proved reserves are estimated with reasonable certainty to be recoverable with present technology and prices.
Source: Oil & Gas Journal, Oil & Gas Journal, Vol. 106.48 (December 22, 2008).

Transportation issues for natural gas

Natural gas is difficult to transport across long distances. Thus, in most countries, natural gas is consumed within the country or exported to a neighboring country by pipeline. Technology for liquefying natural gas so that it can be transported in tankers (like oil) is improving, but the volume of natural gas exported in this manner is still limited. As technology expands the options for gas transportation, demand for natural gas is expected to grow. The largest natural gas reserves by country as of 1 January 2009 are:

Source:Oil & Gas Journal, Oil & Gas Journal, Vol. 106.48 (December 22, 2008).

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) [US Department of Energy] estimates that world oil production in 2004 was 72.2 million barrels per day (B/D). EIA estimates that dry natural gas production was 98.6 trillion cubic feet in 2004.

World oil production comes from more than 800,000 oil wells. More than 500,000 of these wells are in the United States, which has some of the most mature producing basins in the world. On average, an oil well in the US produces only 10 B/D, compared with 248 B/D in Russia, 3,077 B/D in Norway, and 5,762 B/D for a well in Saudi Arabia. Comparable data for natural gas wells are not readily available.

Source: Oil & Gas Journal, Vol. 104, No. 47 (Dec. 18, 2006).

Offshore production

A growing percentage of the world’s production is from offshore areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, western Africa (Angola, Nigeria), and Asia (China, Vietnam, and Australia). Currently, about 60% of the world's oil production comes from offshore operations in waters of more than half the coastal nations on earth.In many areas, large deposits of petroleum and natural gas are buried under the seabed. Offshore production represents significant technical challenges, yet technology advances have enabled the industry to increase offshore production dramatically in the past decade. Remotely operated vehicles that can maintain wellheads and equipment on the ocean’s floor are just one example of the technology that has expanded the world’s producing horizons.

Today in the U.S., there are more than 4,000 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coasts of California and Alaska, servicing thousands of wells. Most of the active wells and proven reserves are in the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore oil-industry equipment in Gulf of Mexico offers an ideal rest stop for more than 300 million monarch butterflies that fly from Canada and the U.S. to spend winters in warm central Mexico. In addition, platforms can provide two to three acres of living and feeding habitat for thousands of underwater species whose survival depends on the protection provided by the structures.

Renewable energy sources, such as wind, wave, thermal, tide and ocean current, and sun energy can also be found offshore.The oceans and the land beneath them could provide all of the energy the world needs for years to come. As new technologies are developed, ocean resources will be able to meet many of the world’s energy needs.