Top 10 oil and gas producing countries in 2012

Saudi Arabia holds first place in global oil production ranking, with 547 million tonnes produced in 2012. Russia sits second — slightly behind Saudi Arabia — with 526 million tonnes in 2012. Both leaders significantly outpaced the US, which ranked third, with 395 million tonnes of oil produced last year.

Eight out of 10 countries increased their oil output and only two — Iran and Mexico — fell.

The US is the leader in terms of oil production growth in 2012 (+14%), whereas Iran output is down 16%, which is the worst rate among competitors.

Figure 1 shows the disposition of the 10 biggest oil producers.

Figure 1. Top 10 oil producers in 2012, million tonnes (source: BP).

Another important indicator is the reserves-to-production (R/P) ratio which represents “burning rate” of proven oil reserves in-situ for any given country when applying current levels of domestic oil production.

Canada is the wealthiest country by R/P ratio, with 153 remaining years of oil production secured by oil reserves. Iraq (132 years) and Iran (126 years) hold the second and third places, respectively.

The US, China and Mexico are the most “unthrifty” countries with only about 11 years before they exhaust their current proved oil reserves (Figure 2).

Figure 2. R/P ratio for top ten oil producers, years (source: BP).

With an output of 681 billion cubic metres in 2012 (+5% to 2011), the US sits on top of the list of the 10 largest gas producers. Ranked second, Russia slightly decreased its domestic gas output (-2%), but 592 billion cubic metres of “blue fuel” produced last year is inaccessible for the pursuers, more than three-fold outpacing Iran, which holds the third place.

Seven out of 10 countries increased their gas output while only three — Russia, Canada and Algeria — fell (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Top ten gas producers in 2012, billion cubic metres (source: BP).

Iran is the most prosperous country by R/P gas ratio, with 209 remaining years to exhaustion of its proven reserves of “blue fuel.”

Being a leader in R/P oil indicator, Canada ranks last in top ten by R/P gas ratio (Figure 4).

Figure 4. R/P ratio for top 10 gas producers, years (source: BP).

Complete datasets for oil, gas and coal industries, as well as plenty of other valuable information regarding world energy facts and figures can be found here.

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