According to EIA, the US Energy Information Agency, the top ten countries with the largest amount of proven oil reserves in 2017 are:
- Venezuela – 300 billion barrels
- Saudi Arabia – 266 billion barrels
- Canada – 170 billion barrels
- Iran – 158 billion barrels
- Iraq – 142 billion barrels
- Kuwait – 101 billion barrels
- UAE – 98 billion barrels
- Russia – 80 billion barrels
- Libya – 48 billion barrels
- Nigeria – 37 billion barrels
The United States, currently the largest oil producer in the world, is ranked at number eleven with proven oil reserves of 35 billion barrels of oil. Most of the increases in oil production in the US come from the production of shale oil. The US is the world leader in oil shale drilling.
It is interesting that although Venezuela has the most oil in the ground, it is no longer one of the top ten oil producers in the world.