World coal reserves

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 455.

The 948 billion short tons of recoverable coal reserves estimated by the Energy Information Administration are equal to about 4,196 BBOE (billion barrels of oil equivalent). The amount of coal burned during 2007 was estimated at 7.075 billion short tons, or 133.179 quadrillion BTU's. This is an average of 18.8 million BTU per short ton. In terms of heat content, this is about 57,000,000 barrels (9,100,000 m³) of oil equivalent per day. By comparison in 2007, natural gas provided 51,000,000 barrels (8,100,000 m³) of oil equivalent per day, while oil provided 85,800,000 barrels (13,640,000 m³) per day.

British Petroleum, in its 2007 report, estimated at 2006 end that there were 147 years reserves-to-production ratio based on proven coal reserves worldwide. This figure only includes reserves classified as "proven"; exploration drilling programs by mining companies, particularly in under-explored areas, are continually providing new reserves. In many cases, companies are aware of coal deposits that have not been sufficiently drilled to qualify as "proven". However, some nations haven't updated their information and assume reserves remain at the same levels even with withdrawals. Speculative projections predict that global peak coal production may occur sometime around 2025 at 30 percent above current production, depending on future coal production rates.

Of the three fossil fuels, coal has the most widely distributed reserves; coal is mined in over 100 countries, and on all continents except Antarctica. The largest reserves are found in the United States, Russia, China, Australia and India. Note the table below.

Proved recoverable coal reserves at end-2008 (million tons (teragrams))
Country	Anthracite & Bituminous	SubBituminous	Lignite	Total	Percentage of World Total
United States	108,501	98,618	30,176	237,295	22.6
Russia	49,088	97,472	10,450	157,010	14.4
China	62,200	33,700	18,600	114,500	12.6
Australia	37,100	2,100	37,200	76,400	8.9
India	56,100		4,500	60,600	7.0
Germany			40,600	40,699	4.7
Ukraine	15,351	16,577	1,945	33,873	3.9
Kazakhstan	21,500		12,100	33,600	3.9
South Africa	30,156			30,156	3.5
Serbia			13,400	13,770	1.6
Colombia	6,366			6,746	0.8
Canada	3,474		2,236	6,528	0.8
Poland	4,338		1,371	5,709	0.7
Indonesia	1,520	2,904	1,105	5,529	0.6
Brazil		4,559		4,559	0.5
Greece			3,020	3,020	0.4
Bosnia and Herzegovina			2,369	2,853	0.3
Mongolia	1,170		1,350	2,520	0.3
Bulgaria			2,174	2,366	0.3
Pakistan			1,904	2,070	0.3
Turkey			1,814	2,343	0.3
Uzbekistan			1,853	1,900	0.2
Hungary			1,208	1,660	0.2
Thailand			1,239	1,239	0.1
Mexico				1,211	0.1
Iran	1,203			1,203	0.1
Czech Republic				1,100	0.1
Kyrgyzstan					0.1
Albania					0.1
North Korea					0.1
New Zealand			333-7,000	571–15,000[97]	0.1
Spain					0.1
Laos					0.1
Zimbabwe					0.1
Argentina					0.1
All others	3,421	1,346		5,613	0.7
World Total	404,762	260,789	195,387	860,938