World Oil Reserves

The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir, including both producible and non-producible oil, is called oil in place. However, because of reservoir characteristics and limitations in petroleum extraction technologies, only a fraction of this oil can be brought to the surface, and it is only this producible fraction that is considered to be reserves. All reserve estimates involve uncertainty, depending on the amount of reliable geologic and engineering data available and the interpretation of those data. The relative degree of uncertainty can be expressed by dividing reserves into two principal classifications "proven" (or "proved") and "unproven" (or "unproved").Unproven reserves can further be divided into two subcategories"probable" and "possible"to indicate the relative degree of uncertainty about their existence.

Proven Reserves
Proven reserves are those reserves claimed to have a reasonable certainty (normally at least 90% confidence) of being recoverable under existing economic and political conditions, with existing technology. Industry specialists refer to this as P90 (i.e., having a 90% certainty of being produced). Proven reserves are also known in the industry as 1P. Proven reserves are further subdivided into "proven developed" (PD) and "proven undeveloped" (PUD). PD reserves are reserves that can be produced with existing wells and perforations, or from additional reservoirs where minimal additional investment (operating expense) is required. PUD reserves require additional capital investment (e.g., drilling new wells) to bring the oil to the surface.

Unproven Reserves
Unproven reserves are based on geological and/or engineering data similar to that used in estimates of proven reserves, but technical, contractual, or regulatory uncertainties preclude such reserves being classified as proven. Unproven reserves may be used internally by oil companies and government agencies for future planning purposes but are not routinely compiled. They are sub-classified as probable and possible. Probable reserves are attributed to known accumulations and claim a 50% confidence level of recovery. These reserves are also referred to in the industry as "2P". Possible reserves are attributed to known accumulations that have a less likely chance of being recovered than probable reserves. This term is often used for reserves which are claimed to have at least a 10% certainty of being produced ("P10"). Based on data from OPEC at the beginning of 2011 the highest proved oil reserves including nonconventional oil deposits are in Venezuela (20 % of global reserves), Saudi Arabia (18 %,of global reserves), Iran (9 %). The detailed numbers can be seen below

Here, Reserve life years is calculated by

RPR = (amount of known resource) / (amount used per year)

The reserve portion (numerator) of the ratio is the amount of a resource known to exist in an area and to be economically recoverable (proved reserves). The production portion (denominator) of the ratio is the amount of resource used in one year at the current rate.

Many oil-producing nations do not reveal their reservoir engineering field data and instead provide unaudited claims for their oil reserves. The numbers disclosed by some national governments are suspected of being manipulated for political reasons. Hence it is said by many experts including CEO of Shell Canada, Clive Mather that reserves in Canada estimate it to actually be 2 Trillion barrels or more, essentially 8 times more than Saudi Arabia. Iraq is estimated to be the first oil reserve in the world with more than 360 billion barrels. There are doubts about the reliability of official OPEC reserves estimates, which are not provided with any form of audit or verification that meet external reporting standards.[22] Since a system of country production quotas was introduced in the 1980s, partly based on reserves levels, there have been dramatic increases in reported reserves among OPEC producers. In 1983, Kuwait increased its proven reserves from 67 Gbbl (10.7109 m3) to 92 Gbbl (14.6109 m3). In 198586, the UAE almost tripled its reserves from 33 Gbbl (5.2109 m3) to 97 Gbbl (15.4109 m3). Saudi Arabia raised its reported reserve number in 1988 by 50%. In 200102, Iran raised its proven reserves by some 30% to 130 Gbbl (21109 m3), which advanced it to second place in reserves and ahead of Iraq. Iran denied accusations of a political motive behind the readjustment, attributing the increase instead to a combination of new discoveries and improved recovery. No details were offered of how any of the upgrades were arrived at.

In Middle East, we can closely look at the oil reserves as

Prospective Resources
A 2008 United States Geological Survey estimates that areas north of the Arctic Circle have 90 billion barrels (1.41010 m3) of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 44 billion barrels (7.0109 m3) of natural gas liquids in 25 geologically defined areas thought to have potential for petroleum. This represented 13% of the expected undiscovered oil in the world. Of the estimated totals, more than half of the undiscovered oil resources were estimated to occur in just three geologic provincesArctic Alaska, the Amerasia Basin, and the East Greenland Rift Basins. More than 70% of the mean undiscovered oil resources was estimated to occur in five provinces: Arctic Alaska, Amerasia Basin, East Greenland Rift Basins, East Barents Basins, and West GreenlandEast Canada. It was further estimated that approximately 84% of the oil and gas would occur offshore.