Saudi Arabia has always been a big name in the global oil industry. But in a recent turn of events, the United States was named as the country holding the most number of oil reserves in the world. This information came from Rystad Energy, a consultancy firm based in Norway.
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| Image source: mfgtalkradio.com |
The firm further estimated that the United States holds 264 billion oil barrels, and more than half of this is in shale. This total exceeds the number of barrels found in Russia (256 billion) and Saudi Arabia (212 billion), placing said countries in second and third place, respectively.
These findings counter the normal perception that Venezuela and Saudi Arabia hold the earth’s biggest oil reserves. According to Rystad Energy, Venezuela only has 95 billion barrels, including its undiscovered oil fields. The company also argues that countries do not have a uniform way of measuring oil reserves. But Rystad, for its part, applied a standardized metric for the purpose of comparison. Texas alone has about 60 billion barrels of oil.
Nobody knows the true amount of Saudi’s oil reserves, which remains a closely guarded state secret. However, the Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has recently initiated an economic transformation, which involves weaning the economy from its dependence on oil sales. This transition includes the partial IPO of Saudi Aramco, and the state is looking into taxing the population for their consumption of oil.
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| Image source: cnbcarabia.com |
Cody Winters is the founder and president of Southlake Resource Group. Mr. Winters has been making a name in the oil and gas industry in the past decade. Visit this blog for more updates on the energy industry.
