The Decline of Oil

A second approach, separating the world’s principal oil-producing countries into two groups – those where production is falling and those where it is still rising – is illuminating. Of the 23 leading oil producers, output appears to have peaked in 15 and to still be rising in eight.

The eight pre-peak countries are dominated by the world’s leading oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, producing roughly 11 million and 9 million barrels of oil a day in the fall of 2005. Other countries with substantial potential for increasing production are Canada, largely because of its tar sands, and Kazakhstan, which is still developing its oil resources. The other four pre-peak countries are Algeria, Angola, China, and Mexico.

Walter Youngquist and A.M. Samsan Bakhtiari of the Iranian National Oil Company both project that oil will peak in 2007.

ENN