ENI adds crude quality assessment to global statistical review

July 22, 2002
Total worldwide consumption of oil reached 75.988 million b/d in 2001, an increase of 0.1% from a year ago, according to Italy's ENI SPA in its recently released world oil and gas review.

Total worldwide consumption of oil reached 75.988 million b/d in 2001, an increase of 0.1% from a year ago, according to Italy's ENI SPA in its recently released world oil and gas review.

ENI published its first worldwide statistical review last year (OGJ Online, June 18, 2001).

Highlighting its second such review is an added section that offers a new assessment of the world's crude oil quality. ENI's review found that the volume of heavy crudes being produced more than doubled from 1993 to 2001 (see table). And while sour crudes continue to account for nearly half of the world's oil production, the volume of medium sour crudes remained roughly flat during the review period. Heavy sour and heavy, medium sour crudes, however, posted hefty jumps in output. Even with the continuing dominance of sour crudes and the sharp growth in heavy crudes, light sweet and medium sweet crudes nevertheless registered sharp volume gains during 1993-2001.

Like the first survey, the second review tracks oil and gas production, reserves consumption, exports, and imports by country and by geographic and economic area.

Among other tabulations, the review noted that:

  • Worldwide production of crude oil, nonconventional oil, and natural gas liquids was 75.226 million b/d in 2001, a 0.1% increase from a year ago.
  • Global demand for natural gas reached 2.503 trillion cu m (tcm) in 2000, an increase of 4.4% over 1999 figures.
  • Global production of natural gas reached 2.543 tcm in 2001 vs. 2.506 tcm in 2000.

Crude quality changes

Regarding the analysis of the quality of the world's crude, Vittorio Mincato, ENI chief executive, said, "This is an important area for which information is somewhat fragmentary and has therefore demanded considerable efforts in the gathering and elaboration of data. The final result has allowed us to classify around 90% of world production and consequently have a broadly complete picture of the current situation.

"The importance of this analysis lies in the fact that, around the world, the environmental quality specifications for oil products are increasing and are increasingly stringent," Mincato said, adding, "Sometimes this leads to imbalances in the supply of crude oil and the product characteristics of the effective demands of the market. The refining sector has not always been able to guarantee a balance between supply and demand, and this leads to an inevitable volatility in terms of the price of oil."

Oil, gas production, consumption

ENI found that the top oil producers in 2001 were Saudi Arabia, the US, and Russia. These nations produced 8.528 million b/d, 8.091 million b/d, and 7.014 million b/d of oil, respectively.

ENI's review found that 14 of the 20 top oil-producing nations are also among the top 20 countries producing the most natural gas.

"Oil, the energy source which dominated the 20th century, goes hand in hand with natural gas, which will dominate the 21st century," the company said.

Russia, the US, and Canada were among the top natural gas producers in 2001, producing 575.4 billion cu m (bcm)/year, 548.7 bcm/year, and 186.2 bcm/year, respectively. Russia also holds the most reserves, at 46.052 tcm. Reserves with the longest life, however, are held by Qatar, at 461 years.

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By far, North America is the largest consumer of both oil and natural gas, ENI reported.

"The US, in particular, holds the record for oil consumption-on average, around 20 million b/d, and natural gas, about 645 bcm/year (in 2001)," ENI said. Japan, at 5.423 million b/d, China, at 4.854 million b/d, and Germany, at 2.814 million b/d, round out the world's top oil consumers.

Geographic concentration

"In terms of the geographic concentration of oil and gas reserves (and even production, albeit to a lesser extent), there is a strong geographic concentration of hydrocarbon consumption in areas (that) have very limited reserves," ENI noted.

The main oil-producing region, the Middle East, has the most oil and gas reserves, ENI noted. Saudi Arabia is still world leader for oil reserves, ENI reported, adding that in 2001, the kingdom had reserves of nearly 262 billion bbl, or more than 25% of world reserves.

The nation holding the highest oil reserves-to-production ratio in 2001 was Iraq. That country's reserves will last for 130 years at current rates of production, ENI found.