Crude oil: Abundance
Decades of oil left, and why the number keeps growing
What this tab covers How much of this energy there is: the natural flow or stock, the share that could be harnessed, and how much is used today, compared with world primary energy use (592 EJ in 2024).Proven reserves are about 17 years of total world energy use, or roughly 60 years of current crude output. Resources beyond reserves are almost twice as large again, mostly unconventional.
A stock: finite on human time scalesHow much there is
| Measure | Value | Compared with world energy use | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proven crude oil reserves (OPEC) | 1,567 billion barrels (end-2024)4 | OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin 2025. OPEC members hold 1,241 billion barrels of this. | |
| Proven oil reserves (Oil and Gas Journal survey) | 1,765.2 billion barrels (end-2024)5 | Higher than OPEC's figure. Surveys differ in what each country reports and whether condensate and bitumen are included. | |
| Oil reserves in energy terms (BGR) | 10,074 EJ (end-2016)6 | about 17 times world primary energy use | 241 Gt; oil is 25.5% of 39,530 EJ of non-renewable reserves: conventional 171 Gt, extra-heavy 42 Gt, oil sands 26 Gt, tight oil 1.6 Gt. BGR's later editions were not accessible for checking. |
| Remaining resources beyond reserves (BGR) | 448 billion tonnes (end-2016)6 | 18,721 EJ (BGR), roughly 32 times world energy use (calculated) | Conventional 168, oil shale 111, oil sands 67, tight oil 60, extra-heavy 42 Gt. |
| World crude oil production | 72.58 million barrels per day (2024)4 | Crude only. Reserves-to-production ratio: 1,567 billion barrels divided by 72.58 million b/d times 365 gives about 59 years (calculated). | |
| Oil consumption in energy terms | 199 EJ (2024)7 | 34% of the 592 EJ world total, the largest single source |
Against 592 EJ of world primary energy in 2024 (Energy Institute Statistical Review 2025), oil supplied 199 EJ, more than any other source. The reserves-to-production ratio of about 60 years has stayed roughly constant for decades. This is not because oil is endless. Reserves are an economic category, and they grow as prices, technology and appraisal turn resources into reserves, as happened with Canadian oil sands and US tight oil.
Most of the remaining resource is lower quality: oil shale, bitumen and tight rock, which need more energy, water and capital per barrel.
Sources
- Milestone 60th edition of OPEC's Annual Statistical Bulletin (ASB 2025) launched OPEC, 2025
- OGJ survey shows global oil reserves increase while natural gas reserves decline Oil & Gas Journal, 2024
- Energy Study 2017: Data and Developments Concerning German and Global Energy Supplies (Table 2, reserves and resources at end-2016) BGR (German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources), 2017
- Statistical Review of World Energy 2025 (74th edition) Energy Institute, 2025