Britain’s BP has raised estimates for Saudi Arabia’s crude oil reserves by 12%, marking the first major change to the country’s estimated reserves since 1989.
In its benchmark 2019 Statistical Review of World Energy, BP recalibrated some Saudi gas reserves, like oil, allowing Riyadh to close in on Venezuela’s top spot as the world’s largest reserves holder.
BP said Saudi Arabia’s proved oil reserves were revised to 297.7 billion barrels at the end of 2018 from 266.2 billion a year earlier, only slightly behind 303 billion in Venezuela. The increase came after Saudi Arabia started separate reporting of oil, gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) reserves, BP Chief Economist Spencer Dale told reporters.
NGLs were previously included in gas reserves, Dale said. As a result, these fell to 208.1 trillion cubic feet from 283.8 trillion cubic feet in 2017.
BP also said oil reserves for the United States, which became the world’s top producer in 2018, were revised upwards by 22% to 61.2 billion barrels from 50 billion barrels at the end of 2017.
Overall, global reserves were little changed at 1,729.7 billion barrels, roughly equivalent to 50 years of the world’s current demand.
