BGR Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe

Energy Study 2014. Reserves, Resources and Availability of Energy Resources - Summary

The 2014 Energy Study – reserves, resources and availability of energy resources aims to provide the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) and German industry with advice on commodity industry issues.
Based on current geological knowledge, there are still extensive volumes of fossil energy fuels. A comparison of global reserves and resources, and of consumed fuels, shows large potentials in all regions of the world. In Austral-Asia, the CIS and North America, these potentials have hardly been touched; and even in Europe, only a small share has been recovered to date. This wealth in raw materials is primarily due to the large coal deposits found on all continents. Unlike conventional crude oil and natural gas deposits, they are not limited to specific regions. The Middle East, which is so important for crude oil and natural gas, thus only has a relatively minor overall potential.
Resources account for the largest share of global non-renewables, exceeding the reserves by a factor of 15. This applies to all energy resources except conventional crude oil, highlighting its special role.
The energy content of all reserves combined totalled 37,646 exajoules (EJ) in 2013, almost 6 % less than the previous year. While hydrocarbon reserves grew slightly, despite a rise in production, new evaluations put quantities of coal and nuclear fuel at lower levels than before. In terms of its recoverable energy content, coal remains the major source of energy, particularly in terms of resources, but also in terms of reserves.
Crude oil, on the other hand, still dominates in consumption and production, and ranks second after coal in the reserves, because of its larger share of unconventionals compared to natural gas. In the overall picture of the global energy mix, i.e. the amounts of energy actually consumed including renewables, fossil energy sources still dominate by far. From a geological perspective, the known amounts of energy can provide a reliable supply of natural gas, coal and nuclear fuels even in the long term. Crude oil is the only fuel with an evident finiteness.

Download: Energy Study 2014. Reserves, Resources and Availability of Energy Resources (PDF, 24 MB)

Contact

    
Dr. Harald Andruleit
Phone: +49-(0)511-643-2513
Fax: +49-(0)511-643-3661

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