World reserves, recoverable

Table 2. World Estimated Recoverable Reserves of Coal in Billions of Metric Tons...

An assessment of world potash resources (108) is shown in Table 15. Of the 67 x 10 t of total estimated reserves and resources in Canada, nearly 5 X 10 t is recoverable by conventional mining methods and the remainder by solution mining. As of 1974, Canada had about half of the known world reserves and about 90% of known world resources of potassium. 

The importance of a coal deposit depends on the amount that is economically recoverable by conventional mining techniques. The world total recoverable reserves of lignitic coals were 3.28 x 10 metric tons at the end of 1990 (3), of which ca 47% was economically recoverable as of 1994 (Table 4). These estimates of reserves change as geological survey data improve and as the resources are developed. 

Comprehensive reviews of energy sources are pubflshed by the World Energy Conference, formerly the World Power Conference at six-year intervals (83). The 1986 survey includes reserves and also gives total resources. In 1986 the total proven reserves of recoverable soHd fuels were given as 6 X 10 metric tons. One metric ton is defined as 29.2 x 10 MJ (27.7 x 10 Btu) to provide for the variation of calorific value in different coals. The total estimated additional reserves recoverable and total estimated additional amount in place are 2.2 x 10 and 7.7 x 10 metric tons, respectively. These figures are about double the 1913 estimates, primarily because significantly increased reserves have been indicated for Russia. 

World potassium reserves. The world reserves of K are now estimated at over 48 Pg of recoverable K2O. Canadian deposits represent 37% of the world s known reserves, Russian deposits 49%, and the remainder is distributed among the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, smd South America (Adams, 1968). There are unproven deposits of K salts in Tunisia and Libya, as well as subsurface brines in Niger and Nigeria. Undoubtedly there are other significant reserves as yet undiscovered in sparsely explored areas, such as Central America, Siberia, eastern Canada, and Australia. 

Table 24-1. World Reserves and World Consumption of Energy in 1974 (1 CU 29,300 kJjton). Resources Hypothetical and Speculative Quantities Reserves Assured and Probable Quantities, Technologically and Economically Recoverable under Present-Day Conditions...

It is estimated that 25% of the world s recoverable coal (coal that can be readily mined) is located in the United States. As such, it is believed that the United States has enough natural resources to meet all of its energy needs for at least 200 years. To provide some additional perspective, consider the fact that these natural resources contain more than double the energy contained in all of the combined oil reserves in the Middle East. 

When considering exploration economics, the possibility of spending funds with no future returns must be taken into account. A typical world-wide success rate for rank exploration activity is one commercial discovery for every ten wells drilled. Hence a probabilistic estimation of the reserves resulting from exploration activity must take into account the main risks and uncertainties in the volume of hydrocarbons in place, the recoverable hydrocarbons, and importantly the risk of finding no hydrocarbons at all. 

Fluorspar Supply. Production costs of hydrogen fluoride are heavily dependent on raw materials, particularly fluorspar, and significant changes have occurred in this area. Identified world fluorspar resources amount to approximately 400 x 10 metric tons of fluorspar (40). Of these 400 X 10 t, however, only 243 x 10 t are considered reserves and an additional 93 x 10 t is considered reserve base, ie, recoverable at higher market... 

Coal, tar, and heavy oil fuel reserves are widely distributed throughout the world. In the Western hemisphere, Canada has large tar sand, bitumen (very heavy cmde oil), and coal deposits. The United States has very large reserves of coal and shale. Coal comprises ca 85% of the U.S. recoverable fossil energy reserves (6). Venezuela has an enormous bitumen deposit and Brazil has significant oil shale (qv) reserves. Coal is also found in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Pern. Worldwide, the total resource base of these reserves is immense and may constitute >90% of the hydrocarbon resources in place (see... 

Estimates of the amount of natural gas available are made within the context of definitions and are subject to revision as definitions change, as additional information becomes available, as resources are consumed, or as undedyiag assumptions are altered. These definitions iaclude proved reserves where the resource is expected to be recoverable and marketable usiag known technology and prices probable reserves where a resource has been identified but not completely characterized and possible or potential gas where estimates are based on the available geological iaformation, historical trends, and previous successes. There are variations ia these definitions throughout the world. 

Resources. World resources of silver are estimated to be about half a million tons. However, only about 250,000 metric tons are considered economically recoverable reserves. These are associated with ores of copper, gold, lead, and 2inc, and extraction depends on the economic recovery of those metals. Canada and the CIS vie for the greatest reserves of silver in the ground. 

The United States, the former USSR, Canada, and AustraUa have the largest known reserves of zinc ore which should permit mining at current levels into the next century (see Tables 2 and 3). World mine production of recoverable zinc between 1970 and 1996 is given in Table 9 (64—66). Mine production in the United States in the 1970s was lower than in the 1960s, reached a minimum in the mid-1980s and has risen since then. The U.S. share of world production has historically been 8—9%. 

The demand for energy is continually increasing and the highest energy consumption in the world occurs in the United States. In 1989 consumption totaled 8.6 x 10 MJ (81.3 x 10 Btu) or 11.7 metric tons of coal-equivalent per capita (85). World recoverable reserves were about 120 times the annual coal production in 1988 and about 10 times that for the additional reserves beheved to be in place (1). Estimated coal consumption reduces the known recoverable reserves at about 1%/yr. Whereas the use of bituminous coal is expected to continue to increase in terms of tonnage, the percentage of coal used in the United States has stabilized as shown in Table 11. 

Coal is the most abundant and most economical fossil fuel resource in the world. Proven coal reseiwes exceed 1 trillion tons, and indicated reserves are estimated at 24 trillion tons. Coal is found in eveiy continent of the world, including Antarctica, although the largest quantities of coal are in the Northern Hemisphere. Coal is mined in some sixty countries in nineteen coal basins around the world, but more than 57 percent of the world s total recoverable reserves are estimated to be in the United States, and China, which together account for more than two-thirds of the world s coal production. 

There are large reserves of natural gas throughout the world in America alone, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that there are 1190.62 Tcf of technically recoverable natural gas. Natural gas is a combustible mixture of hydrocarbon gases, formed primarily of... 

The following terms are often used in the context of quantifying reserves and resources of fossil fuels the Estimated Ultimate Recovery (EUR), also called Ultimate Recoverable Resources (URR), is the sum of past cumulative production, proved reserves at the time of estimation and the possibly recoverable fraction of undiscovered resources. The remaining potential, i.e., the sum of reserves and resources, is the total amount of an energy source that is still to be recovered. The mid-depletion point is the point of time when approximately 50% of the EUR (at field, country or world level) has been produced. 

Resource estimates and current production The vast majority of the world s oil-sand deposits is located in Canada. Of the total in-place volume of around 1700 Gb of bitumen, only slightly less than 20% is assumed to be recoverable. The EUR of Canadian crude bitumen, i.e., reserves, resources and cumulative production as of the end of 2006, amounted to around 316 Gb. Taking the remaining reserves of around 174 Gb into account, Canada ranks second following Saudi Arabia in global oil reserves (see Table 3.3). However, the practice of including oil sands in official... 

The worldwide coal production and consumption in 1998 were 5043 and 5014 million short tons, respectively. The known world recoverable coal reserves in 1999 were 1087 billion short tons (AER, 1999 lEA, 2000). Coal reserves are rather evenly spread around the globe 25% ate in the USA, 16% in Russia, and 11.5% in China. Although coal is much more abundant than oil and gas on a global scale, coalfields can be depleted in a region. The known world recoverable coal reserves in 1999 were 989 billion tons. 

Table 1 provides a forecast of the United States and world sulfur supply and demand for the years 1985 and 2000. Table 1 also includes estimates of the identified recoverable world sulfur reserves using 1978 technology at 1978 sulfur prices and at all price levels. A visual representation of the importance of price in determining the availability of sulfur is provided by Figure 1. Note that this figure is based on the assumption that these quantities of sulfur will be produced only if the sulfur price levels are maintained for a sufficient period of time. 

Tar sands have been reported on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. The best known deposits are the Athabasca of Canada, where almost 60,000 km2 in northeastern Alberta is underlain with an estimated 138 x 109 m3 (870 x 109 bbl) of recoverable bitumen (157). The Alberta deposits may contain up to 215 x 109 m3 (1350 x 109 bbl) of bitumen reserves. Venezuela may have the largest accumulations in the world the Orinoco heavy-oil belt has been estimated by some (157) to contain as high as 636 x 109 m3 (4000 x 109 bbl). The Olenek reserves in the former USSR may contain ca 95 x 109 m3 ( 600 X 109 bbl). The United States is estimated to have deposits of about 4.5 x 109 m3 (28 x 109 bbl). 

Pig. I. Wortd recoverable coal reserves (millions of short ions). (World Energy Council)... 

How much of this mineral-rich black dirt is there In Canada alone, where most of the tar sands projects are located, there may be as much as 1 trillion barrels of oil equivalent. (The U.S. Department of Energy estimated in 2005 that recoverable Canadian tar sands reserves amount to 174.5 billion barrels, which would rank in the same league as world-leading reserves in Saudi Arabia and Russia.)... 

J. D. Parent. A Survey of the United States and Total World Production, Proves Reserves, and Remaining Recoverable Resources of Fossil Fuels and Uranium as of December 31,1977, Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, March (1979). 

The Canadian tar sands deposits in Alberta are the second largest oil reserves in the world after those of Saudi Arabia. It is estimated that the total recoverable reserves are approximately equivalent to 200 billion barrels of oil, an order of magnitude larger than the oil reserves of the United States. Tar sands are mixtures of bitumen (a heavy, viscous oil), sand, water and clay. The bitumen is a solid at room temperature. With surface mining operations, the mixture is heated in large tanks until the sand and clay settle and the oil floats on the hot water to the top of the tank. There are also in situ oil... 

The United States contains about one-third of the world s coal reserves, and coal represents over 90 percent of U.S. proven reserves of fossil fuels. Recoverable reserves of U.S. coal are estimated to be 250 billion tons. Bituminous coals (with a heating value of 10,GOO-15,000 BTU/lb) comprise nearly one-half of total U.S. coal reserves. Eastern U.S. coals are generally bituminous. Western and southwestern U.S. coals are mainly sub-bituminous... 

FIGURE F-2 Annual production scenarios for the mean resource estimate showing sharp and rounded peaks, 1900-2125. Growth rate leading to either peak is 2 percent. Sharp peak occurs in 2037 followed by decline at reserve to production ratio of 10. Rounded peak occurs in 2030 followed by decline at 5 percent. U.S. volumes were added to the USGS (2000) foreign volumes estimate to obtain a world total of 3,000 billion barrels (mean value) of ultimately recoverable resources. SOURCE EIA (2000). 

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