Petroleum and coal proven reserves: The case for coal and the demise of OPEC

Abstract

The world now relies almost exclusively on petroleum products to power our transportation systems, and coal, natural gas, nuclear and some petroleum products along with a small but growing contribution from renewables for most electricity production. The petroleum dependence is hazardous since approximately 82.6% of all petroleum proven reserves reside in the twelve OPEC nations (Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Venezuela) based predominantly in the volatile Middle East. (The ten Middle East and North African nations (excluding Ecuador and Venezuela) still account for 72.2% of all proved petroleum reserves). Coal, on the other hand, is widely distributed around the globe, and natural gas is more widely distributed than petroleum. OPEC nations account for at most 3.7% of proven coal reserves. We conclude that moving to a global energy system based predominantly on coal instead of petroleum would be far more stable for world security.