Petroleum Distribution in the World

Distribution in the World Over 75 per cent of the world's supply of crude oil comes from three major areas: North America, the West Asian states, Russia and Azerbaijan.

Saudi Arabia has the largest reserves followed by Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia is the leading producer followed by the Commonwealth of Independent States and USA.

In the USA, oil was first drilled in Pennsylvia but later Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, California, Wyoming and Lousiana emerged as important centres of oil production. Mexico was another important centre of oil production in Central America, but its importance declined gradually, while Venezuela emerged as an important producer in Latin America. Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Chile are other South American countries which produce oil.

In erstwhile USSR, oil was first struck in the Caucasus region which has been the traditional oil producing region. Other regions include the Volga-Ural region, West Siberia, Lena basin, and Sakhalin islands. Natural Gas is produced in Turkmenistan.
West Asia accounts for 50 per cent of world oil reserves. Oil was struck here in 1909 for the first time at Masjid-e-Sulaiman. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, UAE, Bahrain and Oman are important oil-producing countries.

In Myanmar, oil is found in Irrawadi and Chindwin valleys. In India, Assam, Gujarat and Bombay High are important oil producing regions. Africa has limited reserves which are spread over Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Nigeria.

North Sea is an important oil-producing region in Europe. The oil resources here are shared among UK, Norway, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan and Yangtse Valley and Shansiui province in China are important oil-producing regions of East Asia.

Of the total oil reserves of the world, the former USSR region has 22%, USA, 15.5% and Saudi Arabia, 9%.