Estimates of Total Oil & Gas Reserves in The World, Future of Oil and Gas Companies and SMART Investments by E & P Companies in Renewable Energy Sources for Future Energy Needs
Authors: Haider Waqas Haider 
Published: January 2020

As global oil and gas demand has been increasing in a scenario of low oil prices and strict rules and regulations to safeguard the environment along with extracting the hydrocarbons at an unprecedented pace in the history of mankind, the variety of challenges for the oil & gas exploration and production companies have been increased as well. The key challenges faced by the oil and gas sector are mainly cutting the costs, introducing the cutting edge innovative technologies in the industry to explore more hydrocarbons to keep a balance between supply & demand, improving the environmental footprints, enhancing the life of already discovered sites, discovering new prospects to replace the depleting oil and gas reserves, and maintenance of industrial assets along with maximizing the efficiency of industry as a whole. In the recent years, the world is ramping up the oil and gas production with an aggressive exploration approach. As per different reports, the world achieved a new oil production record of 92.6 million barrels per day in 2017 which was the consecutive 8th year of an increased oil production globally with the United States of America becoming the largest oil producer in the 2017 overreaching 13 million barrels per day for the very first time, while in the same year Saudi Arabia and Russia were at second and third in the list of top oil producing nations with 12 million barrels per day and 11.3 million barrels per day respectively (British Petroleum's Energy Review 2017). As per current estimates the total oil reserves in the world stand at 1.64 – 1.66 trillion barrels of oil (including oil sands reserves) with the largest proven reserves situated in Venezuela (South America) and second largest oil reserves are situated in the Middle Eastern & North African countries (USGS & EIA). The total gas reserves in the world presently stand at 7490 trillion cubic feet of gas with the largest proven reserves situated in the Russian Federation, Caspian Sea, Ukraine, Belarus, Tajikistan and Armenia while the second largest proven reserves of natural gas are situated in the Middle Eastern & North African countries (USGS & EIA). Whereas, total reserves of Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) are estimated 85.280 billion barrels approximately. Top 10 oil producing countries in the year of 2017 are United States of America, Russia, Saudi Arabia (OPEC), Iraq (OPEC), Iran (OPEC), China, Canada, United Arab Emirates (OPEC), Kuwait (OPEC) and Brazil respectively; according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Top 10 gas producing countries (estimates from year 2011 to 2015) are the United States of America, Russia, Iran, Qatar, Canada, China, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Turkmenistan respectively; according to The World Factbook.

Total oil consumption in the year 2018 is 99.5580 million barrels per day according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and with this enhanced pace of oil consumption the total oil reserves of 1.66 trillion barrels (as per the estimates) would last for next 40 to 45 years, it's possible that discovery of new oil prospects especially the unconventional ones may provide some extra life to the existing oil reserves of the world. While, the total natural gas consumption by the estimates from year 2006 to 2017 (as per The World Factbook) is 143 trillion cubic feet and with this speed of global natural gas consumption this natural resource will last for the next 50 to 55 years. According the discussed estimates, facts and figures both the oil and gas which are the most important energy movers of our civilization at present will start to deplete and decline within four to five decades in future. So, many policy makers and think tanks of the world fear that if the hydrocarbons rich countries will keep relying only on oil and gas resources for their economic growth without diversifying the respective economies, the world will face a severe economic collapse in the wake of declining and depleting oil and gas reserves in the next four to five decades of our civilization. Therefore, in order to achieve a sustainable energy growth for our future generations the time to invest in the right direction is now because at present global oil & gas companies have enough revenues to allocate some budget for the renewables so that as soon as our important natural resources i.e. oil and gas somehow would begin to decline and deplete, we would at least be ready eyeing with a vision to a bright future for our generations to come and to grow our energy sector in an alternative direction to fuel our economies in accordance with the changing energy paradigms. The Saudi Aramco (Revenue: 465.5 billion US$), Sinopec Group (Revenue: 448 billion US$), China National Petroleum Corporation (Revenue: 428.6 billion US$), Exxon Mobil (Revenue: 268.9 billion US$), Royal Dutch Shell (Revenue: 265 billion US$), Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (251.9 billion US$), British Petroleum (Revenue: 222.8 billion US$), Total SA (Revenue: 212 billion US$), Lukoil (Revenue: 144.2 billion US$) and ENI (Revenue: 131.8 billion US$) are the largest oil and gas E & P companies in the world. According to a survey, in 2017 the renewables contributed 19.3% to our global energy consumption and the countries like the United States of America and China have now been investing increasingly in alternatives such as wind energy, hydro-electricity and biofuels as in 2015 the investment in the renewable energy technologies estimated to be 286 billion US dollars approximately. It is high time for the oil and gas companies to include renewable energy sources in their business model and from distribution of energy through renewables these companies can earn huge profits as well. The single largest crude oil consuming sector of the world is transportation and when ultra-rich oil and gas firms will start investing in the renewables to reduce the burden of large oil consuming sectors on the already depleting hydrocarbon reserves, the life of our important natural energy resource i.e. oil and gas will be enhanced spontaneously. Moreover, there is need to bring more innovation in the oil and gas sector to keep on exploring and discovering the new oil and gas prospects with emphasize on both conventional as well as unconventional hydrocarbons. Addition of renewables in the business models of rich oil and gas organizations around the globe will not only balance the supply-demand cycle of energy needs of this world, but also it will enhance the life time of our oil and gas reserves plus giving us more time to further our oil and gas exploration horizons with introduction of more innovative technologies to optimize the exploration and production of hydrocarbons. Thus, smart investments in the energy sectors can enhance the possibilities of a prosperous and bright future for our generations to come, this is the high time to make a solid energy policy in the right direction by keeping in view our present and future energy demands because together we can.