Oil - The Black Gold That Empowers the World

Oil has become essential for every country to drive its economic performance and survivability. According to oilprice.com, within 69 years(1950-2019), the total crude oil output globally has reached 1.457 trillion barrels or 231.644 liters. 

The market capitalization of the oil and gas industry has reached a staggering $2.184 trillion so it is not surprising that it is the most important commodity in civilization to the extent that it was known as black gold.

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In 2019, the rate of crude oil output for the whole world in a day is estimated to be 100.69 million barrels. If this figure is multiplied by 365 days in a year, the value would be 36.75 billion barrels.

The value however has seen to decrease from 2018(36.79 billion barrels) according to data received from the Energy Information Agency(EIA) based in the United States of America. 

From the daily output of 100.69 million barrels, almost 19 percent or 19.51 million barrels of crude oil has been produced by America alone as the biggest oil producer in 2019 followed by Saudi Arabia(11.81 million barrels), Russia(11.49 million barrels), Canada(5.5 million barrels) and China(4.89 million barrels).

Aside from knowing the top oil producer in the world, we should also know which countries have the highest oil consumption in the world. For the record, the United States of America is the highest oil producer in the world and is also the top consumer globally with a record of 19.96 million barrels a day or almost 20% of the whole consumption.

China is the second on the list with domestic use of 13.57 million barrels followed by India(4.34 million barrels), Japan(3.92 million barrels), and Russia(3.69 million barrels).

As of 2020, Venezuela is among the countries with the highest oil reserves in the world with 304 billion barrels(17.5%) followed by Saudi Arabia(298 billion/17.2%), Canada(170 billion/9.8%), Iran(156 billion/9%) and Iraq(145 billion/8.4%).

Basically, the countries that produce oil globally can be divided into two main groups which are OPEC and non-OPEC. OPEC stands for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries which is an intergovernmental organization that was established on 14 September 1960 that is similar to ASEAN, NATO or the EU. 

This oil-based organization is led by 13 countries mainly Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya, Kuwait, Algeria, Angola, Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea.

As of 2021, all of the OPEC countries represent the biggest oil-producing capacity consisting of 34.65 million barrels per day whereas non-OPEC countries produce 66.04 million barrels.

There has been more than 150 index that serves as a key point in deciding the price of oil across the globe. Some of the main price points that have been widely used are Brent Crude, West Texas Intermediate Crude(WTI), and OPEC Basket.

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As we all know the price of global crude oil plunged by more than 40% in 2014 from $112 per barrel to $62 per barrel in December 2014. This drop certainly will affect the Gross Domestic Product of most countries, especially the ones that fully rely on oil as the country's main source of income.

The price of global crude oil remains at a low level which is at $48.66 per barrel in 2015, $43.29 in 2016, $50.80 in 2017, $65.23 in 2018, $56.99 in 2019, and $39.68 in 2020 and ultimately this price is considered the new normal.

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