Twenty-two Oil Fields and Man's future.

by Glenn Morton

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It is amazing how dependent the world is on a very small number of oil fields. Today the world produces 76 million barrels of oil per day.  30% of that value comes from 22 fields found in six of the OPEC countries.  All of these fields were found prior to 1966 and are getting old!  And Prudhoe Bay isn't among them. Here are the statistics:

OPEC 6 major oil fields

Iran 
Field         disc. date

Gachsaran   1928
Aqa Jari      1936
Ahwaz          1958
Marun          1963
4 fields represent 70% of Iran’s output

Iraq
Field      disc. date

Kirkuk        1927
Rumaila      1953
2 fields represent 90 % of Iraq’s output

 Kuwait
Field     disc. date

Burgan        1938  
1 field represents 80 percent of Kuwaits output

Saudi Arabia
Field       disc. date

Abqaiq        1941
Ghawar     1948
Safaniya      1951
Manifa        1957
Berri           1964
5 fields represent > 80% of Saudi output

UAE
Field             disc. date

Umm Shaif          1958
Murbann + Bab 1960
Bu Hasa              1962
Zakum                1965
5 fields represent > 80 % of UAE output

Venezuela
Field             disc. date

Bolivar coastal   1917
La Paz                 1922
Quiriquire          1928
Oficina                1933
Boscan                1946
Lamar                 1958
6 fields represent > 75% of Venezuelan output.

In the first quarter 2001 these 22 fields represented 19.7 million barrels per day or nearly 30% of the world’s production.

Iran             3.8 x .7     =     2.66 million barrels per day
Iraq             3.1 x .9     =     2.79
Kuwait        2.2 x .8     =     1.76
Saudi         10.2 x .8     =      8.6
Venezuela   3.05 x .75 =      2.28
UAE           2.6 x .8      =      2.08
                                            19.7 million barrels per day.

Source AM Samsam Bakhtiari, "OPEC'S EVOLVING ROLE: OPEC capacity potential needed to meet projected demand not likely to materialize" Oil and Gas Journal, July 9, 2001

Interestingly, world wide, 10% of the world's production comes from merely 4 fields which produce a combined 8 million barrels per day(mmbo/d). These are the Saudi field, Ghawar, which produces 4.5 mmbo/d; Mexico's Cantarell field which produces 1.2 mmbo/d; Kuwait's Burgan field which produces 2.2 mmbo/d and China's Daqing field, which produces 1.1 mmbo/d. Of these fields only Cantarell was found after 1960.

Source Matthew R. Simmons, "The World's Giant Oil Fields," Research Report of Simmons & Co. International.