World oil reserves were almost unchanged at the end of 2004 from the same time a year earlier as new discoveries barely covered the amount of oil produced, BP said June 14 in its 2005 statistical review of world energy.

The world's remaining proved reserves at the end of last year stood at 1,188.6-bil bbl of oil, BP said, a marginal increase from 1,188.3-bil bbl at the end of 2003.

The Middle East continues to dominate the remaining reserves, holding 733.9-bil bbl, or 61.7% of the total. Leading reserve holder Saudi Arabia's total was unchanged from a year earlier at 262.7-bil bbl.

Figures for most other leading reserve holders were also similar to the prior year, with Iran ranked second with 132.5-bil bbl, Iraq third with 115-mil bbl, Kuwait fourth with 99-bil bbl and the UAE fifth with 97.8-bil bbl.

 

Oil consumption almost matched the growth in supply, rising 3.4% on the year to 80.76-mil b/d. The indisputable engine of growth was China, where runaway economic growth caused a sharp jump in oil consumption. - BP

New discoveries of oil last year were just enough to replace global production, according to the BP statistics, which rose by a rapid 4.5% to 80.26-mil b/d, up from 77.05-mil b/d a year earlier.

This increase was split between OPEC —which ramped up output to 32.93-mil b/d, including natural gas liquids, compared with 30.69-mil b/d in 2003—and Russia, where production swelled to 9.29-mil b/d, up 8.9% from 8.54-mil b/d.

This is the conclusion of a recent IEA report published in February 2005, Biofuels for Transport: An International Perspective. It examines the latest trends in biofuel production and considers how the future could look if recent initiatives in IEA countries and around the world were fully implemented.

Despite the increase in Russian production, Saudi Arabia remained the world's largest producer, pumping an average of 10.58-mil b/d, up from 10.22-mil b/d in 2003.

Other notable increases were seen from Kazakhstan (up 15.5% to 1.295-mil b/d), Iraq (up 50.8% to 2.03-mil b/d) and Angola (up 12.3% to 991,000 b/d). Venezuelan production rose 13.8% to 2.98-mil b/d as it continued to recover from a two-month strike in the winter of 2002-2003, but with the exception of 2003 remained lower than in any year since 1995, BP said.

The largest declines in production came from the UK (down 10% to 2.03-mil b/d) and Australia (down 13.9% to 541,000 b/d). US oil output fell 160,000 b/d, or 2.5%, to 7.241-mil b/d.

Oil consumption almost matched the growth in supply, rising 3.4% on the year to 80.76-mil b/d. The indisputable engine of growth was China, where runaway economic growth caused a sharp jump in oil consumption. Average Chinese demand for oil last year was 6.68-mil b/d, BP said, up 15.8% from 5.79-mil b/d in 2003.

This growth cemented China's position as the world's second-largest consumer of oil, although it still lags way behind the US, where demand grew 2.8% to 20.52-mil b/d last year, fractionally under a quarter of total world consumption.

Other sizable rises in consumption were seen from India (up 5.5% to 2.555-mil b/d), Singapore (up 12.4% to 748,000 b/d), Thailand (up 9.2% to 909,000 b/d), Saudi Arabia (up 6.6% to 1.728-mil b/d), Iran (up 5.1% to 1.551-mil b/d) and Venezuela (up 10% to 577,000 b/d).

Demand in a number of developed countries fell last year, including Italy (down 2.8% to 1.871-mil b/d), Germany (down 1.2% to 2.625-mil b/d) and South Korea (down 0.8% to 2.28-mil b/d).

Created: June 28, 2005

 

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