he United States has become the global leader in recoverable oil reserves as improved technology and processes have allowed domestic producers to overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia, according to a report released this week.
Norway-based consulting firm Rystad Energy said the United States contains 264 billion barrels of oil that is both technologically and economically feasible to recover, outpacing Russia by 8 billion barrels and 52 billion barrels more than Saudi Arabia.
The numbers include estimates for existing fields, discoveries and yet undiscovered fields. The same study three years ago listed the United States as No. 4 in recoverable reserves behind Russia, Saudi Arabia and Canada.
More than half the remaining U.S. oil reserves are unconventional shale oil, of which more than 60 billion barrels are beneath Texas, the report stated.
Globally, unconventional oil represents about 30 percent of the global reserves, while offshore reserves represent about 33 percent.
The report lists total remaining global reserves of almost 2.1 trillion barrels, which is 70 times this year’s current production rate of about 30 billion barrels. Global cumulative production until 2015 totaled about 1.3 trillion barrels, the report stated.
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