Iraq, Brazil allay peak-oil fears

Iraq says it has 25 per cent more proved oil reserves than the last time it looked. The revised estimate is 143bn barrels, the world’s third-largest after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela (excluding Canada’s oil sands). Iraq’s oil minister said there might be further upward revisions over time. Brazil says one of its recent discoveries could be 8bn barrels, twice as big as first estimated.

According to BP, global oil reserves were 1,333bn barrels at the end of 2009. That was 23 per cent higher than a decade earlier, despite consumption of 300bn barrels over the period.

Financial Times