Top 10 oil producing fields in the world
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1.) Ghawar Field, Saudi Arabia
The largest conventional oil field in the world at 280 km by 30 km. Ghawar, in the Eastern Province, was discovered in 1948, started production in 1951, and is owned and operated by Saudi Aramco. Its current rate of production is 5 million barrels of oil per day. The estimated amount of oil in place is 71,000 million barrels.
2.) Oseberg, Norway
Oseberg is an offshore oil field with a gas cap in the North Sea located 140 km northwest of the city of Bergen on the southwestern coast of Norway. The field, discovered 1979, is named after a 9th century Viking ship excavated at the Oseberg farm, south of Oslo. The current rate of production is 3.78 million barrels per day. The operator is Statoil, in partnership with Petoro, Total, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.
3.) Bolivar Coastal Field, Venezuela
This onshore field was discovered in 1917 and started production in 1922. It is the largest oil field in South America with nearly 7,000 wells and oil derricks that stretch for 35 miles along the coast of Lake Maracaibo. The total capacity of the field is estimated at 30-35 billion barrels. The current rate of production is 2.6 million barrels per day.
4.) Fyodorovskoye Field, Russia
The Fyodorovskoye Field near Surgut, south of St. Petersburg in Western Siberia was discovered 1971. The huge field has been in decline but its current rate of production is still at 1.9 million barrels per day.
5.) Burgan Field, Kuwait
The Burgan Field, discovered in 1957, is located in the desert of southeastern Kuwait and is considered the world’s largest sandstone oil field. In 1991 during the Gulf War, Iraqi soldiers set the field on fire as part of their retreat, but that act did not cause any significant depletion of oil reserves. Its current production rate is 1.7 million barrels per day. The estimated oil in place is 44,000 million barrels.
6.) Rumaila Field, Iraq
The field, discovered in 1953, is owned by Iraq and subcontracted to BP and China National Petroleum Corp. Its current rate of production is 1.3 million barrels per day. The estimated oil reserves in the field are 17 billion barrels. There are 270 wells operating at Rumaila. BP and CNPC are planning to increase production to 2.1 million barrels per day in the next few years.
7.) Samotlor Field, Russia
The field, located at Lake Samotlor, is owned and operated by TNK-BP and at 1,752 square kilometers, is the largest in Russia. It was discovered in 1965 and started production in 1969. The current rate of production is 844,000 barrels per day. The estimated reserves are 4,000 million barrels. It has produced approximately 2.6 billion tons of oil since it was built.
8.) Priobskoye Field, Russia
The giant Priobskoye Field, which was discovered in 1982 and started production in 2000, stretches over an area of 5,400 square kilometers on the banks of the Ob River in Western Siberia. Gazprom Neft and Rosneft are partners in ownership of the field. Its current rate of production is 684,000 barrels per day.
9.) Prudhoe Bay, United States
Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is the largest in the United States and North America at 213,543 acres on the North Slope of Alaska. It was discovered in 1968 and started production in 1977. The field is operated by BP and its partners are ExxonMobile and ConocoPhillips Alaska. It s current rate of production is 660,000 barrels per day and the estimated oil in place is 25,000 million barrels.
10.) Majnoon Field, Iraq
Majnoon Field is located near Basra in southern Iraq and is one of the most oil-dense fields in the world. It is estimated to have reserves of 12.6 billion barrels. The field was discovered in 1975 by the Brazilian company Braspetro and is operated by Royal Dutch Shell and Petronas. According to the Islamic Dictionary, Majnoon means “crazy” in Arabic. The site’s current rate of production is 500,000 barrels per day.
