How Much Energy Is Enough? - The Renaissance of Renewable Energy - page 67

Natural gas
(trillion m 3 )

Total %

Global

Uranium
(thousand
tons)

Total %

Global

Qatar 25.0 12.0 Russia 546 10.4

Turkmenistan 24.3 11.7 South Africa 435 8.3

United States 8.5 4.1 Canada 423 8.0

Saudi Arabia 8.2 3.9 USA 342 6.5

United Arab
Emirates

6.1 2.9 Brazil 278 5.3

Venezuela 5.5 2.6 Namibia 275 5.2

Nigeria 5.1 2.4 Niger 274 5.2

Algeria 4.5 2.2 Ukraine 200 3.8

Rest of world 43.5 20.9 Rest of world 426 8.1

Global total 208.4 100.0 Global total 5,259 100.0

Source: BP ( 2012 ), European Energy Portal ( www.energy.eu ).

Total world coal reserves, comprising all grades from lignite to anthracite, is currently
estimated at 860 billion tonnes (BP 2011 ) . This makes coal by far the most abundant of the
fossil fuels. If we continue using coal at current rates, our known reserves will not run out
for more than 100 years (BP 2011 ) .
The world's reserves of natural gas are estimated at 185 trillion cubic metres, enough
to meet current production levels for sixty years. Like oil, natural gas is concentrated in
a small number of countries, mainly in Russia and the Middle East (BP 2011 , 2012 ; IEA
2012a ) . Thismeans that, despite the advantages of natural gas over oil as a fuel source,
many of the same issues of energy security apply.