Does the world have enough oil to meet our future needs?
According to EIA's International Energy Outlook 2023 (IEO2023), the global supply of crude oil, other liquid hydrocarbons, and biofuels is expected to be adequate enough to meet the world's demand for liquid fuels through 2050. There is substantial uncertainty about the levels of future liquid fuels supply and demand. The IEO2023 projections reflect some of this uncertainty in the Reference case, High and Low Economic Growth cases, High and Low Oil Price cases, and High and Low-Zero Carbon Technology Growth cases. The oil resources currently in the earth's crust, combined with expected production of other liquid fuels, are estimated to be sufficient to meet total world demand for liquid fuels in all cases of the IEO2023.
An often cited, but misleading, measurement of future resource availability is the reserves-to-production ratio, which is calculated by dividing the volume of total proved reserves by the volume of current annual consumption. Using proved reserves is an accounting concept based only on known projects, and it is not a precise measure for judging total resource availability in the long term. Over time, global reserves will likely increase as new technologies increase production at existing fields and as new projects are developed.
Learn more:
International Energy Outlook
International Energy Statistics—historical world, regional, and country-level estimates of petroleum and other liquids production, and of petroleum consumption.
U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves