BGR Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe

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Energy Resources 2009

Energy Resources 2009 CoverSheet

In this study global reserves, resources, production and consumption of the energy resources crude oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear fuel as well as geothermal energy are analyzed and evaluated on a world wide scale as at the end of 2007. This BGR report is a follow up of the previous study based on the year 2001 (BGR, 2003) and it is the first time that an English version of this study is available. The period after the publication of the last study has been characterized in particular by significant increases in prices for raw materials, which has also resulted in an increased perception of the subject raw materials in politics and the general public.

The reserves of non-renewable energy resources corresponded to approximately 38 700 exajoule (EJ) in total at the end of 2007. Compared to 2001, the reserves rose by 2220 EJ which was mainly caused by an increases in soft brown coal and conventional crude oil and natural gas.

Coal still is the dominant energy resource based on its extractable energy content. Its portion of the reserves of all non-renewable energy resources is about 55 %. Crude oil has a share of nearly 23 % (conventional and unconventional with 17 % and 6 %, respectively) and ranks second. Natural gas follows at nearly 19 %, the nuclear fuels add up to approx. 4 %.

Annual production, reserves and resources of the individual non-renewable fuels in 2007Annual production, reserves and resources of the individual non-renewable fuels in 2007 Source: BGR




The resources of the non-renewable energy resources were estimated at approximately 571 700 EJ by the end of 2007. There is a significant increase of approximately one and a half times in comparison to 2001. This is due to a different assessment of coal, to the hitherto not considered resources, unconventional natural gas deposits in tight reservoirs and coalbed methane

If one compares the global annual production of all energy resources at the end of 2007 (439 EJ) and the amount of reserves (38 700 EJ) and resources (571 700 EJ), a ratio of approximately 1 : 90 : 1300 results (see figure).
With the exception of conventional oil global reserves and resources of energy resources are sufficiently high to cover the energy demand of the world for several decades to come.



The complete report is available as download. Separate download of: List of contents, 3 separate parts, complete text version and tables.

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