UAE pumped 28bn barrels of oil

The UAE has pumped more than 28 billion barrels of crude oil out of its desert land since it discovered crude.

The production is nearly 6.2 per cent of the cumulative oil output of about 447 billion pumped by the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) since it was created in 1960, Opec's figures have shown.

Despite such a massive production, the recoverable oil reserves of the UAE and most other Opec'snations either remained unchanged over the past decade or recorded a large increase because of new discoveries and the deployment advanced technology to reach more reserves that had been inaccessible.

By the end of 2010, the UAE has pumped 28.2 billion barrels of oil, the sixth largest output in Opec's after Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Venezuela.

But the country’s proven oil resources remained unchanged at around 97.8 billion barrels at the end of 2010 compared with 2000 and were nearly 10 times their level four decades ago, when the UAE began commercial oil exports.

At an average price of Opec's basket of around $26 during 1960-2010, the cumulative oil output fetched the UAE nearly $761.5 billion during that period.

Opec's annual report for 2010-2011 showed Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, pumped a total 122.3 billion barrels during 1960-2010 but its extractable crude deposits gained nearly three billion barrels over the past decade to peak at 264 billion barrels at the end of 2010. The reserves were below 100 billion barrels nearly 40 years ago.

At that average crude price, Saudi Arabia’s total income from oil output stood at nearly $3.3 trillion in current prices, the figures showed.

Cumulative production by Kuwait totalled 34.5 billion barrels but it did not affect its proven oil reserves, which swelled by about five billion barrels to reach a record high of 101 billion barrels at the end of 2010 compared with 95 billion barrels at the end of 2000, according to Kuwaiti government estimates.

Iraq pumped nearly 34.5 billion barrels while cumulative output stood at 65.1 billion barrels in Iran, 8.7 billion in Qatar, 27.5 billion barrels in Libya and around 10 billion barrels in Algeria. In other non-Arab OPEC producers, cumulative output stood at 28.1 billion barrels in Nigeria, 62.3 billion barrels in Venezuela, 8.8 billion barrels in Angola and 4.5 billion barrels in Ecuador.

The report put Opec's cumulative production at 447 billion barrels, fetching nearly $12 trillion in current prices.

The report showed Opec's cumulative output peaked during 2000-2010 as it stood at around 107 billion barrels. It was put at 92 billion barrels during 1990-2999, around 63 billion during 1980-1989, nearly 101billion barrels during 1970-1979 and about 55 billion barrels in the previous 10 years.
Despite rising output, Opec's proven crude resources surged from around 840 billion barrels at the end of 2000 to 1,193 billion barrels at the end of 2010.

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