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World oil reserves have increased to 1.35 trillion in 2010 compared to 1.03 trillion in 2001 according to recent statistic released by the Huston based ONG journal.
The statistics said that 42% of the reserves come from OPEC countries, an increase to 951 billion barrels from 814 billion barrels in 2001.
The annual data which is published every year, has shown that Algeria, Qatar, Iran and Nigeria were the only OPEC members which reserves have increased noticeably, to 25.41 billion barrels compared to 15.21 billion barrels in 2001.
The reserves of the UK, Canada, USA and Argentina have all declined, while the ex USSR republics have maintained their reserves.
Oil and gas reserves in Australia, China, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru have increased.
Australia has doubled its reserve to 3.3 billion barrels, while China’s have increased to 20.3 billion barrels, up from 16 billion.
Investments on exploration and exploitations operations have declined 20% worldwide, while in the North America (including USA, Canada and Mexico where the majority of drilling operations occur in this region) investments have decreased by 40%.
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