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BP classes Iran as world’s number one gas reserves holder

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BP classes Iran as world’s number one gas reserves holder


The UK-based energy giant, BP, has slashed its global natural gas reserves estimate for the first time in decades, sharply dropping Russia's classified holdings and placing Iran at the top of the world's gas-rich countries.


In its Statistical Review of World Energy released on Wednesday, the BP classed Iran as the world’s top gas reserves holder with 33.6 trillion cubic meters.

The company downgraded Russia’s reserves estimate to 32.9 trillion cubic meters from 44.6 trillion cubic meters in last year's report, putting global proven gas reserves at 187.3 trillion cubic meters as of the end of 2012.

Christof Ruhl, BP's chief economist, said in this regard that the firm decided this year to adjust its gas reserves estimates for the former Soviet Union, including Russia, where data on reserves is classified.


“Traditionally, countries of the former Soviet Union had different criteria than used elsewhere. So we used a conversion factor to convert that from those countries where we don't get direct data,” Ruhl added.

The annual report also cut the estimate of gas reserves in the United States.

Meanwhile, BP also upgraded oil reserves for both Iran and Iraq by several billion barrels, estimating global proven reserves at 1,669 billion barrels at the end of last year, up slightly from 1,654 billion at the end of 2011.

Iran has been trying to boost its gas production by attracting foreign and domestic investments, especially in South Pars gas field.

South Pars is part of a wider gas field that is shared with Qatar. The larger field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran's territorial waters (South Pars) in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, referred to as the North Dome, are in Qatar's territorial waters.


PressTV - BP classes Iran as world?s number one gas reserves holder

BP cuts global gas reserves estimate, mostly for Russia

Alex Lawler and Dmitry Zhdannikov

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - Oil major BP cut its global natural gas reserves estimate for the first time in decades, revising Russia's still classified holdings down sharply and putting Iran at the top of the world league table.

In its Statistical Review of World Energy published on Wednesday, BP put global proven gas reserves at 187.3 trillion cubic metres as of the end of 2012, enough for about 56 years of global production at current rates.

BP's annual review of energy statistics, first published in 1951, is considered an industry benchmark. Last year's report put gas reserves at 208.4 trillion cubic metres. The cut of 21 trillion equals roughly seven years of global gas use.

Russia, the world's biggest gas reserves holder for many years, was responsible for the bulk of the reduction, with its reserves estimate downgraded to 32.9 trillion from 44.6 trillion in last year's report.

BP's chief economist, Christof Ruhl, said at a news conference the company decided this year to adjust its estimates for the former Soviet Union, including Russia, where data on reserves is classified.

"Traditionally countries of the former Soviet Union had different criteria than used elsewhere. So we used a conversion factor to convert that from those countries where we don't get direct data," Ruhl said.

"In some countries, reserves are still a state secret, so we have to rely on these data," he added.

BP also cut its estimate of gas reserves in the United States, where the energy industry has been transformed by shale oil and gas, due to lower prices and reduced drilling. U.S. reserves ended 2012 at 8.5 trillion cubic metres, down 0.3 trillion from 2011.

The downgrade left Iran at the top of the table of the world's largest gas reserves holders for the first time in decades, with its broadly unchanged reserves of 33.6 trillion.

Russia remains a much larger gas producer than Iran, which is unable to exploit the full potential of its resources, because U.S. and European trade sanctions over its nuclear programme have stalled energy projects.

BP has had a bumpy experience in Russia over the past decade. TNK-BP, its venture with Russian billionaires, generated billions of dollars in dividends for BP but also led to clashes with the Kremlin.

The company sold out of the venture this year to become a major shareholder in state-controlled champion Rosneft . The latter is pursuing an aggressive gas strategy to rival state-controlled Gazprom, Russia's gas export monopoly and holder of most of its gas reserves.

In its review, BP also steeply downgraded Turkmenistan's reserves to 17.5 trillion from 24.3 trillion and cut its reserves estimates for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.


OIL ESTIMATES

On the oil side, BP estimated global proven oil reserves at 1,669 billion barrels at the end of 2012, up slightly from 1,654 billion at the end of 2011 and enough to maintain current global production levels for 53 years.

In its report a year earlier, BP had revised global oil reserves sharply higher, citing new technology that made heavy crude grades in Canada and Venezuela economically profitable to extract.

Its figure for U.S. oil reserves rose to 35 billion barrels from 31 billion last year, more than 2 percent of global reserves.

A report from the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration on Monday pointed to the dramatic impact of shale on world energy. Shale deposits will boost total world crude resources by 11 percent, it said.


BP upgraded reserves for both Iran and Iraq by several billion barrels and kept them at their No.3 and 4 global spots, respectively. Venezuela and Saudi Arabia kept their first and second places with no major revisions over the year.

Ecuador, Norway and China were included in upward reserves revisions, while estimates were downgraded for South Sudan, Malaysia, Angola and Gabon.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/bp-reserves-idUSL5N0EO1I720130612
 
List of countries by natural gas proven reserves

This is a list of countries by natural gas proven reserves based on The World Factbook.[1] Based on data from BP at the end of 2009 proved gas reserves are dominated by three countries:Iran, Russia, and Qatar.[2] A study by Gaffney, Cline & Associates estimates Turkmenistan’s South Iolotan natural gas field reserve at 21.2 trillion cubic meters (tcm) - far above the BP estimate of 2.9 tcm for this field. This places Turkmenistan's reserves at 25.8 tcm, ahead of Qatar but still behind Iran.[3][4] Due to constant announcements of shale gas recoverable reserves, as well as drilling in Central Asia, South America and Africa, deepwater drilling, estimates are undergoing frequent updates, with bias towards increases.

There is large discussion about the potential of shale gas reserves and large doubt about their economic and environmental sustainability, but it is clear that most of those reservoirs are still to be developed and discovered. In that sense the inventory of the gas proven reserves is likely to increase of size within the next years.




Rank Country Natural gas proven Date of information
reserves (m³)


1 Iran 33,600,000,000,000 12 June 2013 est.[5]

2 Russia 32,900,000,000,000 12 June 2013 est.[5]

3 Qatar 25,100,000,000,000 12 June 2013 est.[6]

4 Turkmenistan 17,500,000,000,000 12 June 2013 est.[7]

5 United States 8,500,000,000,000 12 June 2013 est.[7]

6 Saudi Arabia 8,200,000,000,000 1 January 2012 est.[8]

7 Venezuela 5,524,500,000,000 19 July 2011[9]

8 Nigeria 5,246,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

9 Algeria 4,502,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

10 Australia 3,825,000,000,000 1 January 2012 est.[8]

11 Iraq 3,600,000,000,000 1 January 2012 est.[8]

12 China 3,100,000,000,000 1 January 2012 est.[8]

13 Indonesia 3,001,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

14 Kazakhstan 1,900,000,000,000 12 June 2013 est.[7]

15 Malaysia 2,350,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

16 Norway 2,313,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

17 UAE 2,250,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

18 Uzbekistan 1,841,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

19 Kuwait 1,798,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

20 Canada 1,754,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

21 Egypt 1,656,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

22 Libya 1,539,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

23 Netherlands 1,416,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

24 Ukraine 1,104,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

25 India 1,075,000,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

26 Israel 680,000,000,000 10 March 2013 est.[10]

27 Oman 849,500,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

28 Azerbaijan 849,500,000,000 1 January 2011 est.[1]

29 Pakistan 840,200,000,000 1 January 2010 est.

30 Lebanon 750,400,000,000 1 January 2010 est.


List of countries by natural gas proven reserves - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Iran oil minister pushes for completing South Pars development plan

TEHRAN – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has called for allocating as capital and equipment as necessary to complete the development of the South Pars gas field in the shortest possible time.

He has emphasized that the priority should be placed on phases 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18 of the gas field, the mehr News Agency quoted him as saying on Wednesday.

Some $16 billion will be invested in Iran’s South Pars gas field in the current Iranian calendar year, Pars Oil and Gas Company Managing Director Mohammad-Reza Zohairi has said. The Iranian calendar year started on March 21, 2013. A major portion of the investment will come from domestic sources, IRNA quoted Zohairi as saying.

Meanwhile, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company had said $30 billion would be invested in the South Pars gas field in the current Iranian calendar year.

Iran is currently producing 300 million cubic meters of gas per day from the South Pars field.

The South Pars/North Dome field is a gas field located in the Persian Gulf. It is the world’s largest gas field and is shared by Iran and Qatar. The field’s recoverable gas reserves are estimated to be equivalent to 215 billion barrels of oil. It also holds about 16 billion barrels of recoverable condensate.

The South Pars field, which is divided into 29 phases, has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of total world reserves.

Iran oil minister pushes for completing South Pars development plan - Tehran Times
 
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