The 5 top oil reserves worldwide and their largest oil fields

Dec 1, 2019

Since I was a little girl, I repeatedly heard adults around me talking about countries in war only.
They always said that all of these conflicts essentially because these countries have oil fields.
And the countries with the largest oil fields are more of a target than others.
These countries were always a magnet for political and economic conflicts.
Although they were always considered the wealthiest countries.
I knew that it must be a very important thing for a country to have oil fields and scary as well.

Table of Content

[What exactly is an “oil field”?](/content/oil-gas/5-top-oil-reserves-worldwide#heading-h2-1 "What exactly is an “oil field”?"/index.html)
[How important is it for a country to have oil fields?](/content/oil-gas/5-top-oil-reserves-worldwide#heading-h2-2 "How important is it for a country to have oil fields?"/index.html)
[The 5 largest oil reserves worldwide and their largest oil fields.](/content/oil-gas/5-top-oil-reserves-worldwide#heading-h2-3 "The 5 largest oil reserves worldwide and their largest oil fields."/index.html)
- [1. Venezuela](/content/oil-gas/5-top-oil-reserves-worldwide#heading-h3-4 "1. Venezuela"/index.html)
- [2. Saudi Arabia](/content/oil-gas/5-top-oil-reserves-worldwide#heading-h3-5 "2. Saudi Arabia"/index.html)
- [3. Canada](/content/oil-gas/5-top-oil-reserves-worldwide#heading-h3-6 "3. Canada"/index.html)
- [4. Iran](/content/oil-gas/5-top-oil-reserves-worldwide#heading-h3-7 "4. Iran"/index.html)
- [5. Iraq](/content/oil-gas/5-top-oil-reserves-worldwide#heading-h3-8 "5. Iraq"/index.html)
[The conclusion](/content/oil-gas/5-top-oil-reserves-worldwide#heading-h2-9 "The conclusion"/index.html)

What exactly is an “oil field”?

According to “Wikipedia”:

“An oil field is a land area with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum (crude oil) from below ground.
Because oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometers across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area.”

For a country to have oil fields means they are having one of the top driving forces in the modern world.
But to establish an oil field needs a lot of money so not any country can do it even if it’s naturally gifted with oil.

How important is it for a country to have oil fields?

The oil field industry or the petroleum industry is very crucial to numerous other industries.
Its an essential pillar to the circle of the economic world and life in general.
This is a huge industry and this statistic by “ world population review“ proves my point:

“In “2018”, the world used approximately “99.3” million barrels per day of oil.
This number is projected to rise to “100.8” million in “2019”.”

And not only that, entrepreneurship is moving into the oil & gas industry regardless of how extremely hard that is.
Despite this hardship, “ Pedro Santos the Founder/Director at “Nearshore Natural Gas” and “CNGmotive” sets a great example of the entrepreneurship wave in the oil and gas industry.
He founded 3 startups in the oil and gas industry in only a few years, and he’s not the only entrepreneur in this field.
The oil industry is a globally leading industry and it doesn’t adopt anything new that easily, so for entrepreneurs to try having a foot in this place proves how vital it is.
Hence, if entrepreneurship is a great career choice in general, how prominent it would be if it’s in the oil field?

The 5 largest oil reserves worldwide and their largest oil fields.

So, who do you think has the most oil in the world? I bet some names would come to mind.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the largest oil reserves in the world.

1. Venezuela

“Venezuela” is known to have the largest oil reserves in the world.
It’s proved oil reserves are estimated at “303.2” billion barrels, this is “17.9%” of world total oil reserves.
But most of these reserves are extra-heavy oil which is extremely challenging to produce.
That’s why “Venezuela” attracted international oil companies to participate in the development of these reserves and turn it into crude oil.
A number of companies answered and invested a huge amount of money into “Venezuela” oil fields.
Companies like “ConocoPhillips”, “BP”, “Chevron”, “ExxonMobil” and “Total”.

“Venezuela” is known to have the largest oil field in all of “South America”.
“The Bolivar Coastal Fields (BCF)” is considered to be “Venezuela”‘s largest oil field.
And it’s also called “The Bolivar Coastal Complex” This field is located on the eastern margin of “Lake Maracaibo”, “Venezuela” and it stretches “35” miles along the north-east coast of “Lake Maracaibo”.
“The Bolivar Coastal Fields (BCF)” Production is maintained between “6,000” and “7,000” barrels per day.

2. Saudi Arabia

This country has the second-largest amount of oil reserves in the world with “266.2” billion barrels, which is “15.7%” of world total oil reserves.
“Saudi Arabia” owns five major oil fields, including “The Ghawar” Field which is the largest conventional oil field in the world not only “KSA”.
“Saudi Arabia” is one of the largest oil exporters in the world.

“The Ghawar” Field measures “280” by “30” km and is entirely owned and run by the national Saudi oil company “Saudi Aramco”.
But due to the recent attacks on “Saudi Arabia” that affected mainly “The Abqaiq” and “The Khurais” oil facilities, the kingdom was forced to suspend more than half of its production.
The suspended production is considered “6%” of global oil supplies, and that made a sudden change in prices.

3. Canada

In third place comes “Canada” with “168.9” billion barrels of proved oil reserves which are “10%” of the world total.
“96%” of “Canada”’s proven oil reserves are located in “Alberta”‘s oil sands which are a powerful source of Canadian energy and a huge industry.

In west-central “Alberta”, you’ll find “Judy creek” which is considered the largest oil field in “Canada”.
As important as this industry is, unfortunately, “Canada” is facing major environmental issues and the balance is hard.

4. Iran

The oil and gas industries in “Iran” play an important role in dominating the economy.
This country comes fourth in the list of the top oil reserves countries worldwide.
It’s proven oil reserve is “157.2” billion barrels which are “9.3%” of the world total.

5. Iraq

The “Iraq” proven oil reserves are “148.8” billion barrels, “8.8%” of the world total.
These numbers make Iraq the fifth in line in the top oil reserves countries in the world.
The “Rumaila” oil field is the largest oil field in “Iraq” and its owned by the “Iraq” National Oil Company.

The conclusion

We have here The “ 5″ top oil reserves in the whole world along with their largest oil fields.
But do you think ten or twenty years from now they are going to be at the same place?
The oil industry has been and always will be one of the most crucial industries worldwide.