Half a century ago, the known oil reserves on our planet were almost two times higher than the volume of proven blue fuel. Today the situation has completely changed. The explored reserves of natural gas in terms of their performance are equal to the “black gold” and continue to increase rapidly.
By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the total volume of already explored gas resources in the world was about 190 trillion. cubic meters. At modern rates of consumption, this amount will last 60 years for humanity, not more. And then natural gas will disappear, since it belongs to
mineral resources that cannot be renewed again in the earth's interior. Although experts estimate the potential volume of natural gas to be much higher, there are still many hard-to-reach fields on the planet that have not been fully explored, and their reserves have not yet been precisely determined.
Among the states, the largest known natural gas fields are:
- Russia.
- Iran.
- Qatar.
- Turkmenistan.
- Saudi Arabia.
The next in the ranking with great potential gas resources are the UAE, USA, Algeria, Venezuela, Nigeria.
Natural gas of Russia
The Russian Federation accounts for about 24% of the world's resources of this natural wealth, it is by far the most secure among all countries of the world. The largest deposits on its territory are:
- Urengoyskoe - 10.2 trillion. m 3 .
- Bovanenkovskoe - 5.3 trillion. m 3 .
- Yamburg - 5.2 trillion. m 3 .
There are other oil and gas basins, including on the shelf of the northern seas. The main share of deposits is concentrated in the Asian part of Russia.
Near East
The Persian Gulf is considered one of the richest regions of our planet . There are not only huge oil fields, but also natural gas in large volumes. According to its reserves, countries such as Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia are allocated. In the North and South Pars field alone, 28 trillion are concentrated. cubic meters of gas.
North and South America
The largest owner of these natural resources in America is the United States - proven reserves amount to 7.63 trillion. cubic meters. In addition, there are also shale gas deposits in this country . Large reserves of natural gas are in Canada, Venezuela, Mexico and Brazil.
Asian countries
Several large deposits are located in Turkmenistan, among which Galkynsh stands out with a volume of 21.2 trillion. m 3 . And there are others - Shatlyk, Dovletabad, Yashlar. Natural gas is produced industrially in China, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Africa and EuropeThe main African reserves are concentrated in Nigeria and Algeria. The largest Algerian deposits are Hassi Rmeil (2.6 trillion m 3 ), In-Salah (2.3 trillion m 3 ) and In-Amenas (2 trillion m 3 ).
There are several large gas pools in Europe. For example, Shebelinsky in Ukraine, the Troll in Norway, as well as in Hungary, the Netherlands, Albania, etc.
Resource relevance
After oil, the second most important resource for the energy industry is, of course, natural gas, the price of which will increase in the future, as the demand for it is constantly increasing. And more than once we will have to hear in the news reports about the above countries and deposits.