SHINING FRONTIER

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Proved Oil Reserves: Africa

Proved reserves of oil are generally take to be those quantities that geological and engineering information indicates with reasonable certainty can be recovered in the future from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions.

From 1980 to 2011, the world proved reserves grew at an rate of 2.9%:

1. Reserves in South & Central America grew at an annual rate of 8.4%

2. Reserves in Africa grew at 3% annually

3. Reserves in Middle-east at 2.6%

4. In North America at 1.8%

5. In Europe & Eurasia together at 1.7%

6. In Asia pacific at .6%

In the last twenty years, the proved reserves in Africa have jumped from 61.1 billion barrels at the end of 1992 to around 132.4 billion at the end of 2011, a cumulative jump of about 116%, which is second only to the 313% increase seen in South & Central America during the same time-period.

As of 2011, reserves in Libya, Nigeria, Angola, and Algeria account for about 80% of the proved reserves of Africa.