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Does the world have enough oil to meet our future needs?
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) International Energy Outlook 2023 (IEO2023), the global supply of crude oil, other liquid hydrocarbons, and biofuels is expected to be adequate to meet the world's demand for liquid fuels through 2050. There is substantial uncertainty about the levels of future liquid fuels supply and demand. The IEO2023 projections reflect some of this uncertainty in a Reference case, High and Low Economic Growth cases, High and Low Oil Price cases, and High and Low-Zero Carbon Technology Growth cases in its projections. The oil resources currently in the earth's crust, in combination with expected production of other liquid fuels, are estimated to be sufficient to meet total world demand for liquid fuels in all cases of the IEO2023.
An often cited, but misleading, measurement of future resource availability is the reserves-to-production ratio, which is calculated by dividing the volume of total proved reserves by the volume of current annual consumption. Proved reserves are an accounting concept that is based on known projects, and it is not an appropriate measure for judging total resource availability in the long term. Over time, global reserves will likely increase as new technologies increase production at existing fields and as new projects are developed.
Learn more:
International Energy Outlook
International Energy Statistics—historical world, regional, and country-level estimates of proved crude oil reserves, of petroleum and other liquids production, and of petroleum consumption.
Last updated: November 7, 2023.
Other FAQs about Oil/Petroleum
- When was the last refinery built in the United States?
- Does EIA have data on the movement (transport) of crude oil, biofuels, petroleum products, and propane by rail?
- What do I pay for in a gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel?
- How much coal, natural gas, or petroleum is used to generate a kilowatthour of electricity?
- What is the outlook for home heating fuel prices this winter?
- Does EIA have data on U.S. oil refineries and their locations?
- Does EIA have information on U.S. natural gas and oil pipelines?
- How much oil is consumed in the United States?
- How much oil is used to make plastic?
- What types and amounts of energy are produced in each state?
- How much shale (tight) oil is produced in the United States?
- What is the difference between crude oil, petroleum products, and petroleum?
- What are petroleum products, and what is petroleum used for?
- How many gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel are made from one barrel of oil?
- Does EIA have forecasts or projections for energy production, consumption, and prices for individual states?
- What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?
- Does EIA have data on the type or quality of crude oil?
- What countries are the top producers and consumers of oil?
- How much oil consumed by the United States comes from foreign countries?
- Does EIA have county-level energy production data?
- What other motor gasoline consumption data sources are available?
- Does EIA have information on unplanned disruptions or outages of U.S. energy infrastructure?
- How much of the crude oil produced in the United States is consumed in the United States?
- Does the world have enough oil to meet our future needs?
- How much petroleum does the United States import and export?
- What is the difference in product supplied among EIA publications?
- How do we calculate product supplied?