Who has the World’s Oil

How much oil do we think there is right now? Who has it and more importantly how much do that consume?

As most everyone knows now a days the countries that make up the Middle East hold over 60% of the worlds known oil supply. Which adds up to over 700 billion barrels of oil. With Russia & the United States bringing up a distant second and third with just under 100 billion barrels.

source: Civic Actions

Price of Oil per Barrel since 1940

Crude Oil prices have been in the news lately and have most recently hit a symbolic high of $114 a barrel. These prices are still lower if you account for inflation compared to during the Iraq/Iran war of 1980. Also the United States still enjoys a import price over the rest of the world of around $5-$7. Still though we are on track to overtake the old record of 1980 by the end of 2Q at the latest if everything stays the same.

Here is a graph posted by the New York Times that breaks down the price of oil adjusted for inflation since 1940.

Also the New York Times gives a audio primer on the actions of American oil consumption and price for the last 70 years.