South American Oil Resources

Carlo — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:49:27 +0000

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela are countries under South America. It has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers or 6,890,000 sq mi; has an estimated population as of 2005 more than 371,090,000 that rank South America in fifth in population after Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. And rank fourth in area after Asia, Africa and North America. They say that what world go round is oil. If this is true then South America is in a good shape because South America possesses one-fifth of global oil reserves and its supplies have been growing. It possesses 20 percent of the world’s known underground oil reserves. According to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries or OPEC that Venezuela has overlap Saudi Arabia as the country that has the largest proven reserves.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is an intergovernmental organization of 12 oil producing countries: six in the Middle East, four in Africa and two in South America; Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. The first countries to move towards the establishment of OPEC in the 1960s by approaching Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in 1949 are Venezuela and Iran, suggesting having exchange views and exploring avenues for regular and closer communication among petroleum producing nations. There principal goals is the determination of the best means for assuring the organization’s interests, individually and collectively. Also conduct ways and means of securing the stabilization of price in international oil markets with a view to eliminate harmful and unnecessary fluctuations; an adequate and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations and a fair return on their capital to those investing in the petroleum industry; and giving due regard every time to the interests of the producing nations and necessity of securing a stable income to the producing countries.

Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador possess South America oil. 85 percent of the region’s crude reserves came from Venezuela, one of the largest mostly untapped reserves in the world. Brazil holds 5 percent of the South America reserves. Mexico is the third largest supplier of foreign oil to the United States. Because of Paleocanal Chicontepec oilfield, the country still holds 4 percent of the region’s oil. Ecuador, the Andean country has 3 percent of the region’s reserves and their supplies have been increasing in recent years. There supplies increased 63 percent from 2007 to 2008 according to IPS. And according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in between 2009 to 2010 it went up by 1.8 billion barrels. An estimated of 846 million barrels of crude is hold in the Yasuni National Park. Top 10 countries in the world that has billions of barrels. Saudi Arabia with 261.8 barrels, Canada with 180 barrels, Iraq with 112.5 barrels, U.A.E. with 97.8 barrels, Kuwait with 96.5 barrels, Iran with 89.7 barrels, Venezuela with 77.8 barrels, Russia with 60 barrels, Libya with 29.5 barrels and Nigeria with 24 barrels.