Global oil reserves 2:20

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How much oil is really left around the world?

Let’s begin in the Mid East, which has about 2/3 of the world’s proven oil reserves. Saudi Arabia is at the top, with 266 billion barrels. Iraq and Iran are also rich in crude along with Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. But it might surprise you that Canada has a lot of oil too, some 178 billion barrels. Much of it rests in the tar sands of Alberta. It is a gigantic strip mining operation. Environmentalists score it a disaster, leaving behind toxic chemicals, stripping forests and contaminating the water supply.

Now, let’s go south to Venezuela and parts of Mexico. Much of their oil, like Canada’s, feeds the veracious appetite for crude in the United States, which is the world’s biggest consumer of oil. Yet, did you know that the U.S. has some 21 billion barrels in reserve, so why doesn’t it produce more? With the U.S. government bans most offshore drilling except in the Gulf of Mexico for environmental reasons.

So, what does Russia fit in all of this? It's flush with cash from its oil reserves and it is the world’s second largest producer.

Let’s take a look at Africa now. Libya has the most oil reserves on the continent, about 39 billion barrels. And further the south, Nigeria has lots of crude but lots of problems too. Militants routinely attack oil instillations and kidnap workers, disrupting production and making the world prices soar.

All that’s said, who is going to quench the global thirst for oil in the future? Will it could be that Brazil becomes the US major exporter with the discovery of a huge offshore oil field. The oil is in a great depth, some 4 miles below the ocean’s surface, but experts say, it is recoverable.

And that may be the future for oil, going to great extremes to get it out of the ground. Analysts estimate there’s another trillion barrels of oil yet to be discovered, but they say it would be found in remote places like the Arctic Ocean. So, it’s going to cost a lot of money to get it from the ground into your fuel tank.

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现在全球油储状况怎么样呢？

让我们从中东开始，中东地区占世界上现已探明的石油储量的大约三分之二。其中，沙特阿拉伯石油储量最高，大约2660亿桶。伊拉克，伊朗，科威特和阿联酋储量也很高。但是，可能会让你吃惊的是，加拿大也有很高的石油储量，大约1780亿桶，其中大部分位于加拿大西部的阿尔伯达省，那里还有一个巨大的钢矿。环境学家表示，该矿会造成巨大的灾难，会遗留大量的有毒化学无，毁坏森林，污染水源。

现在，让我们向南部，看一下委内瑞拉和墨西哥的部分地区。和加拿大一样，他们的大部分石油也用来供应世界最大的石油消耗国，美国。然而，你是否知道，美国其实有210亿桶的石油储量，那么为什么他们不多生产一点呢？因为由于环境原因，美国政府禁止大部分海岸地区钻井产油，除了墨西哥湾地区。

那么，俄罗斯呢？俄罗斯由于丰富的石油储量赚取了大量钞票，它是世界上第二大石油生产国。

现在看一下非洲的状况。利比亚是非洲大陆上石油储量最多的国家，大约390亿桶。再向南一点，尼日利亚拥有很多原有，但是也面临很多问题。军盾经常袭击采油设备，绑架工人，扰乱生产，导致国际油价飙升。

那么，谁能满足未来全球的石油需求呢？巴西在海岸地区发现了巨大的油田，会不会成为美国的主要石油供应国呢？石油储存位置很深，大约海平面以下4英里，但是专家表示，还是可以采取措施进行开采的。

可能这就是石油的未来，想方设法，无所不用其极的将石油挖出地面。分析家估计，还有数以兆计的石油等待发掘，但是他们说可能会在偏远的北冰洋。所以，可能将那些石油挖掘出来撞到你的油箱里可能会花费巨大的成本。