Energy Environmental Blog

How Much Oil Do We Have?

Written by Greg Russell | Mar 26, 2012 2:07:17 PM

The President, to support his energy policies, has stated repeatedly in recent weeks that we have only 2 percent of the world's oil reserves.  But is it true?  Energy analysts disagree:  "'It's accurate but extremely misleading,' says Dan Kish of Institute for Energy Research, which is supported by the industry. 'What he is talking about is oil we already have found. *** Misleading, he argues, because the president is pointing to 'proven' reserves, which is some 21 billion barrels, but the U.S. is sitting on vast reserves of untapped energy that are far greater. *** One federal agency says there's 10 times more -- 219 billion barrels more --, in what is called 'technically recoverable' energy. *** Another agency in the Energy Department says there's 20 times that much, or 400 billion barrels more, and some in the industry claim there's 60 times that amount, meaning some 1.4 trillion barrels in untapped resources."

Hmmm ...