which companies produce oil and how many years worth do they each have left?

Answer 1

The big 'boys' are Exxon/Mobil, Chevron/Texaco, Connoco/Phillips, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total. You then have numerous smaller companies such as Talisman, CNR, Agip, Amerada Hess, Cairn and many small companies under that. The number of oil companies is many more than most people realise. Plus you have the national oil companies such as Petronas, Petrobras, Sonatrach etc.

How much is left? Well that is the $64,000 question and the arguements rage. Shell recently got into trouble over its quoted reserves and trying to figure out exactly how much is in the reservoir is difficult at the best of times.
The original oil in place is the maximum amount of oil in the ground before the reservoir is drilled. Recoverable oil is what we can extract based on current technology. Currently we can get about 40% of oil out and upto 85% of gas out of the ground. With improvements in technology and techniques that should go up. However, thanks to physics we will never get every last drop out regardless of technology and money.

The big question is when will we have extracted more than 50% of all the original oil in place? There is a finite amount of oil and gas on the planet and there is a finite limit to how much we can get out so at some point in the future production WILL peak and one day the taps will run dry. When is anyones guess, some people think the peak has happened, others blindly believe it will never happen.

My personal feeling is we could see the peak in the next 20 years, many oil producing areas have already peaked (US in the 20's, UK in the 90's, Mexico's Cantarell field just recently) so it is a matter of time. If we continue to stick our heads in the sand and hope it will never happen we will be in for a rude shock. Better to start making changes now and be ready than have civilization as we know it crumble around us.

Oil is far to valuable a resource to keep pouring in our petrol/gas tanks and burning away. Think of everything around us today that is made from plastics, all the chemicals we use daily that come from oil. Could we manage without them? Maybe but would you rather drive or wear clothes?

Answer 2

The problem with oil supply is not one of whether there is enough left, but how long is it before daily demand exceeds daily supply. When this happens, it won't matter how much is left as simple economics dictates that the price will go through the roof, and our global oil-based economic system will begin the inevitable process of collapse as the effects of oil price inflation bite deeper and deeper.

The only hope is to move away from our dependence on oil, but this is both technologically and politically difficult.

Answer 3

Okay, here's the thing: we are never going to run out of oil. Why? Becuase it's not siting underground in vast oceans. It's in the interstitial space between rocks and earth. When they drill down to get it, it comes up the pipes just like water coems up into a deep hole in the beach.

We've developed many new ways to gather oil more efficiently, and to coaxe it to the surface, but every year, the price of getting a barrel of oil out of the ground gets higher. The only way to get every drop of oil out of the ground would be to wring dry the entire crust of the earth like a giant rag. What is going to happen is that someday, it will be so costly to drill for oil that no one will do it anymore, despite the fact that there is still oil in the ground.

Answer 4

i must start by saying that i am shocked that nobody saw the basic error in this question. no company produces oil that takes millions of years and it is natural therefore the awnser is none and we have about 15 to 20 years left.

Answer 5

Well, for sure, most middle eastern countries produce their share of oil. And, for more sure, they will each admit to having about a billionth of a fraction in reserve than that which that actually posess. Power, Power, Power.

Answer 6

many companies are in the oil business.. from exploration to drilling to refining to delivery..it's a food chain.
the big oils are Exxon, BP Amoco, Shell/Royal Dutch, Chevron/Unocal.

there are also plenty of foriegn oil companies that are getting big such as Lukoil in Russia, Gazprom, Cnooc in China, ENI/ELF Aquataine in France/Italy.

Answer 7

It is the ground in nations that produce the oil, the corporations fractionally distill it. If I were you, I would look up Hubbard's Peak. That would help you with your question.

Answer 8

DONT NO