The Ghawar Oil Field: How Much is Left?

Decline of the world

For those who don’t know much about Ghawar, it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world, measuring an estimated 175 miles by 20 miles (280km by 30 km). Currently, the huge field is said to produce between 4.5 and 5 million barrels of oil per day by outside observers, which is over 6 percent of global production. The officially stated maximum sustained crude production capacity is 8.5 million barrels per day, though actual output is a closely-guarded state secret. Thus far, approximately 60 billion barrels have been pumped out of Ghawar since production began back in 1951.

Noting that no oil fields approaching the size and capacity of Ghawar have been discovered since, noted energy analyst Jack Schaefer said in a recent online column, “The importance of Ghawar and other older giant fields to global oil production cannot be overstated.” Ghawar’s total proven reserves, or recoverable oil still left in the ground, have been pegged at just over 70 billion barrels by the Saudi Aramco, the nationalized oil company which is the largest of its type in the world.

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