Distribution Characteristics and Spatial Evolution of the World Proven Oil Reserves

TLDR: In this article, the change and distribution of the proven oil reserves on different regional scales were analyzed, including the global, the regional, and national levels based on the data from 1980 to 2011.

Abstract: Proven oil reserve is a dynamic process. This paper analyzes the change and distribution of the proven oil reserves on different regional scales which including the global,the regional,and national levels based on the data from 1980 to 2011. Conclusions are as follows:(1) the change of world proven oil reserves has roughly gone through four stages with obvious trend of stepped characteristic. Generally speaking,inter annual changes in most years were stable,and the R/P ratio showed a slowly rising trend.(2)From the regional scale,the proven oil reserves showed an unbalanced distribution and the changing trends showed a different track. The proportion of Middle East and the North America raised at first,and then decreased,while the Africa and the Middle South America raised steadily.(3) From the national level,proven oil reserves showed an obvious clustered distribution and the nations which proven reserves more than 0.5 billion tons controlled the pattern of world oil reserves. Members of "billion tons club"have increased and the reserves have changed significantly from 1980 to 2011.