A report by the United States Department of Energy said that the Persian Gulf countries of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates produced in 2000 nearly 28 percent of the world's oil, while holding 65 percent of the world's oil reserves.
The Persian Gulf in 2000 contained around 672 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, representing approximately 65 percent of total world oil reserves, and 1.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, or 34 percent of the world total.
Also in 2000, the Persian Gulf maintained about 23 million bbl/d of oil production capacity, or nearly 30 percent of the world’s total, and accounted for 28 percent of world oil production.
It added that the Persian Gulf countries maintained a significant percentage (around 44 percent,or 1.6 million bbl/d)of the world's excess oil production capacity.
The report noted the importance of this figure because in the event of an oil supply disruption,excess oil production capacity can be brought online to compensate.
If such a disruption were to occur in the Persian Gulf, it would leave the world with relatively limited options for making up the lost oil production.
Persian Gulf countries had estimated net oil exports of 17.5 million bbl/d of oil last year,Up 7.4 percent from 1999. Saudi Arabia was the largest exporter, with an estimated 7.7 million bbl/d or 44 percent of the total.
It was followed by Iran (15 percent),Iraq (12.5 percent),the United Arab Emirates (12.5 percent),Kuwait (12 percent),Qatar (4.5 percent),and Bahrain (0.1 percent).
Iraqi exports increased slightly between 1999 and 2000,from 2.1 million bbl/d in 1999 to an estimated 2.2 million bbl/d in 2000.
The report said oil production capacity in these countries is expected to reach 31.4 million bbl/d by 2010 and 44.8 million bbl/d by 2020,up from around 23 million bbl/d
currently.
This would increase Persian Gulf oil production capacity to 39 percent of the world total by 2020, up from 29 percent in 2000.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
