The outlook for conventional petroleum resources

Richard Nehring

Expert InsightsPublished 1979

Focuses on general approaches to world petroleum resource assessment. The author establishes the nature and concentration of petroleum reserves and the efficiency of modern petroleum exploration. He demonstrates that conventional petroleum resource assessments have failed to take the implications of those points into account. This failure has led to misconceptions about valid indicators of petroleum potential in sedimentary provinces, the amount of oil remaining in small fields, and the ability of higher pricing to bring about increases in world petroleum reserves. Considering the prospects for future discoveries and additional recovery in known producing provinces and for discoveries in unexplored or lightly explored provinces, Nehring estimates that ultimate conventional production of petroleum liquids will be between 1.6 and 2.0 trillion barrels, although a major breakthrough in oil recovery technology could add as much as 0.5 trillion barrels. He concludes that other possibilities for larger conventional resources appear implausible.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 1979
  • Pages: 21
  • Document Number: P-6413

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Nehring, Richard, The outlook for conventional petroleum resources. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1979. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P6413.html.
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