IHS (CERA's Parent) Suggests Kuwaiti, Global Proven Reserves Far Lower Than Stated

[hatrack]

At the Oil Depletion conference (hosted by the Energy Institute) held in London on 7th November, Dr Kenneth Chew, a Vice President of IHS Energy reported proved and probable reserves (2P) for Kuwait of around 52 billion barrels (read from chart). This is approximately 51% of the proved reserves reported in the BP statistical review that stand at 101.5 billion barrels. This tends to support recent reports of Kuwaiti reserves being substantially overstated.

Ken Chew also presented data indicating global remaining discovered proved plus probable (2P) liquid resources of some 1,250 billion barrels. This implies global proved liquid reserves (1P) of around 950 billion barrels (based on an assumption that 1P is approximately 75% of 2P). This is substantially lower than estimates provided by BP, Oil & Gas Journal and World Oil.

This report is built around a presentation (link live until 28th Nov. 2006) made by Ken Chew, at the Oil Depletion conference held in London on 7th November and subsequent correspondence I have had with him. I would like to acknowledge that Ken has been very helpful in clarifying background information to his talk. IHS Energy own Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) who are also leading commentators on global energy issues.

Why are Kuwaiti and Middle East (ME) oil reserve estimates important? The simple answer is that one point of view is that all ME OPEC reserves are incorrectly booked and are in fact grossly "inflated". The IHS energy data presented by Ken Chew suggests Kuwaiti and world oil reserves are significantly lower than otherwise reported in the public domain. The IHS database is one of the more widely used sources of world oil information therefore the whole world should take note. Let's start with a look at how reserves are booked and evidence for anomalous reserves booking by ME OPEC countries.

EDIT

http://europe.theoildrum.com/story/2006/11/13/173619/51