Saudi Arabia

Country Analysis Brief Overview

Saudi Arabia has almost one-fifth of the world's proven oil reserves, is the largest producer and exporter of total petroleum liquids in the world, and maintains the world's largest oil production capacity.
Over half of its oil reserves are contained in only eight fields. The giant Ghawar field, the world's largest oil field with estimated remaining reserves of 70 billion barrels, has more proven oil reserves than all but seven other countries.
Although Far East Asia is received an estimated 54 percent of Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports in 2012, Saudi Arabia still ranked second after Canada as a petroleum exporter to the United States.
Saudi Arabia has the world's fifth largest natural gas reserves, but natural gas production remains limited.
Saudi Arabia plans to increase generating capacity from 55 gigawatts (GW) to 120 GW by 2020 in order to meet a rapidly growing demand for electricity.

Analysis Last Updated: February 26, 2013

Overview data for Saudi Arabia

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Petroleum (Thousand Barrels per Day)			2011					2012
		History	Saudi Arabia	Middle East	OPEC	World	Rank	Saudi Arabia
Total Oil Production	Production of crude oil (including lease condensate), natural gas plant liquids, and other liquids, and refinery processing gain (loss). Negative value indicates refinery processing loss.	Total Oil Production Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	11,154.26	26,874	35,179	87,329	1	11,545.68
Crude Oil Production	Includes lease condensate.	Crude Oil Production Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	9,458.36	24,026	31,784	74,136	2	9,832.32
Consumption	Consumption of petroleum products and direct combustion of crude oil.	Petroleum Consumption Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	2,986.00	7,905	9,112	87,605	5	3,224.00 ^FFF
Net Export/Imports(-)	Net Exports = Total Oil Production – Consumption. Negative numbers are Net Imports.	Petroleum Net Exports/Imports(-) Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	8,168.26	18,969	26,067	--	167	8,321.68
Refinery Capacity	Crude oil distillation capacity as of January 1. Sources: U.S. data from EIA; Other countries from Oil & Gas Journal.	Petroleum Refinery Capacity Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	2,080	7,245	8,987	88,097	9	2,112
Proved Reserves(Billion Barrels)	As of January 1. Sources: U.S. data from EIA; Other countries from Oil & Gas Journal.	Petroleum Proved Reserves Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	262.60	753	1,065	1,474	2	267.02
Natural Gas (Billion Cubic Feet)			2010					2011
		History	Saudi Arabia	Middle East	World	Rank		Saudi Arabia
Production	Dry natural gas.	Natural Gas Production Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	3,096	15,937	111,954	9		3,258
Consumption	Dry natural gas.	Natural Gas Consumption Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	3,096	13,277	113,321	8		3,504
Net Export/Imports(-)	Net Exports = Exports - Imports. Negative numbers are Net Imports. Note: Data range begins with the year 1990.	Natural Gas Net Exports/Imports(-) Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	0	3,806	--	64		NA
Proved Reserves (Trillion Cubic Feet)	As of January 1. Sources: U.S. data from EIA; Other countries from Oil & Gas Journal.	Natural Gas Proved Reserves Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	264	2,658	6,637	6		276
Coal (Million Short Tons)			2010					2011
		History	Saudi Arabia	Middle East	World	Rank		Saudi Arabia
Production	Production of primary coal (includes anthracite, bituminous, lignite, and for Estonia, oil shale).	Coal Production Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	0.000	1	7,954	68		0.000
Consumption	Consumption of primary coal (includes anthracite, bituminous, lignite, and for Estonia, oil shale) and net imports of metallurgical coke.	Coal Consumption Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	0.000	16	7,770	114		0.000
Net Export/Imports(-)	Net Exports = Exports – Imports. Negative numbers are Net Imports. Includes primary coal and metallurgical coke.	Coal Net Exports/Imports(-) Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	0.000	-15	--	85		0.000
Electricity (Billion Kilowatthours)			2009					2010
		History	Saudi Arabia	Middle East	World	Rank		Saudi Arabia
Net Generation	Conventional thermal electricity, hydroelectric power, nuclear electric power, and geothermal, solar, wind, and wood and waste electric power generation.	Electricity Net Generation Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	204.06	763	19,071	19		212.26
Net Consumption	Net generation+electricty imports-electricity exports-electricity distribution losses.	Electricity Net Consumption Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	186.09	656	17,360	18		190.88
Installed Capacity (GWe)	One billion watts or one thousand megawatts of electric capacity, as of January 1.	Electricity Installed Capacity Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	44.49	185	4,843	20		49.05
Total Primary Energy (Quadrillion Btu)			2010					2011
		History	Saudi Arabia	Middle East	World	Rank		Saudi Arabia
Production	Production of petroleum (crude oil and natural gas plant liquids), dry natural gas, and coal, and net generation of hydroelectric, nuclear, and geothermal, solar, wind, and wood and waste electric power.	Total Primary Energy Production Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	24.744	70	509	4		26.229
Consumption	Consumption of petroleum, dry natural gas, and coal, and net hydroelectric, nuclear, and geothermal, solar, wind, and wood and waste electricity. Also includes net electricty imports.	Total Primary Energy Consumption Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	7.849	29	511	13		8.758
Energy Intensity (Btu per 2005 U.S. Dollars)	Consumption per dollar of gross domestic product using purchasing power parities.	Total Primary Energy Intensity Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	13,931	10,945	7,452	18		14,629
Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Million Metric Tons of CO₂)			2010					2011
		History	Saudi Arabia	Middle East	World	Rank		Saudi Arabia
Total from Consumption of Fossil Fuels	Emissions from the consumption of petroleum, natural gas, and coal and the flaring of natural gas.	CO2 from Consumption of Fossil Fuels Enlarge chart Rollover line points for data.Close	468.73	1,798	31,502	12		513.53