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PROVEN WORLD
OIL RESERVES
E
XCEPT
for the United States and the Soviet Union,
no mejor industrial power is a significant oil
producer. This is one of the great paradoxes of eco–
nomic geography. The entire world, including the
more developed regions, are dependent on a few
vulnerable countries for one of the most strategic
items of modern industry: oil. Th is is one of the most
disturbing aspects of the industrial scene.
Estimotes of proven oil reserves ore very speculo–
tive. The estimates given below, regorded os the
lotest ond most reliable by sorne sources, differ sig–
nificantly from other figures. The highest figures ore
three times os Jorge os those given below for both
the United Stotes and the world. In any case, with
the tremendous current production (over 18 billion
barreis or 2.5 billion tons in 1971 ), it is cleor thot
current rotes of production ond growth con only be
sustained for o few more decodes. The figures once
again underscore the great importance of the
Middle East and North Africa as oil suppliers.
Source:
Oil, The Middle East and the World,
Charles lssawi, Center for Strategic ond lnter–
national Studies, Georgetown University, New
York: The Library Press, 1972, p. 8.
Figures in billions of U. S. barreis.
One metric ton equals
about 7.3 barreis.
600
EUROPE CANADA UNITED
FAR
LATIN
AFRICA SOVIET MIDDLE
STATES
EAST AMERICA
UNION "
EAST
• Easter.n E.urope and Communist China included
dent of Middle East oil if Kremlin
leaders decide to modernize the in–
dustrial base, as they apparently
want to do.
In fact, it has been reported that
Communist Eastern Europe is look–
ing increasingly to the Middle East
for gas and oil. A leading Czech–
oslovakian economic planner ,
Vlastimil Plechac, recently wrote
that Russia had instructed Czech–
oslovakia to stop relying totally on
Soviet oil and to look increasingly to
the Middle East.
The Soviet Union's increasingly
direct involvement in Middle East–
ern oil may indicate that she, too,
has
designs on the product
as well as
the place. (We must remember tbat
a great deal oftbe Soviet Union's oil
reserves are
in
sucb remole locations
that development would be costly
and difficult.)
The main point, however, is not
how dependent tbe United States
will be on Middle East oil, or if
sorne discovery such as tbe North
Sea oil deposits will dramatically af–
fect Western
~urope's
oil situation
or how free from oil import needs
the Soviet Union can remain.
We should focus on the irrefut–
able fact that, for the near future,
two of the world's four major indus–
trial giants (Westem Europe and
Japan) will be almost totally depen–
dent on Middle East oil. A third
giant (the United States) will get at
least sorne of its oil from there. A
fourth (the U.S.S.R.) will have polít–
ica! interests in the area, regardless
ofwhether or not she needs the oil.
The Middle East will continue as
,
a focal point of international ten–
sions. And tbe spotlight will in–
tensify. Oil makes
it
certain.
The
Oil
Drum of Wes tern
lndustry
Two thirds to three fourths of the
(non-Communist) world's oil re–
serves are in the Middle East. As oil
economist Wa lter Levy put it,
' 'There is no alternative to Middle
East oil." Echoing this assertion was
PLAIN TRUTH Moy 1973