climateschool

Crude Oil

Crude oil is oil that is not yet refined to produce useful products. It consists of a mixture of a wide variety of chemicals, most of which are hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are compounds formed from carbon and hydrogen atoms that combine in a multitude of ways to create gases, liquids and solids. These mixtures of various hydrocarbons exist underground in porous deposits known as reservoirs, embedded in sedimentary rocks, and in tar (oil) sands close to the surface of the earth.

Sources

Reserve values are in billion barrel units.
Year 2016

Venezuela	300
Saudi Arabia	267
Canada	171
Iran	158
Iraq	143
Kuwait	102
United Arab Emirates	98
Russia	80
Libya	48
Nigeria	37
United States	35
Kazakhstan	30
Qatar	25
China	25
Brazil	16
Source: EIA Beta International

The above chart is for proved oil reserves in the specified countries. A "proved" reserve is one which has at least a 90% probability of production, within the constraints of modern technologies, current costs of production, and political conditions.

Production

There are approximately 100 countries that produce crude oil. Globally in 2016, the top five crude oil producing countries were Russia (13%), Saudi Arabia (13%), USA (11%), Iraq (6%), and Iran (5%).

Consumption

In the U.S. oil is used primarily in transportation, industry, residential buildings, commercial buildings and in the generation of electricity.

Products

Environment

The effects that oil use has on the environment take many different forms. Some are accidents that result in local contamination. Some are intrinsic to the processes of exploration, drilling and production. Probably the most important effect that oil use has on the environment is the vast amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses that are released into the atmosphere, resulting in global warming.

Oil Industry

The world's ten largest oil companies by reserves are all National Oil Companies (NOC). That is, they are owned by the countries in which they are headquartered. Following is a list of those top ten companies: