Humans have already used up about one-third of the world’s known oil reserves, and scientists predict that there is only enough oil to sustain current levels of production for perhaps another hundred years.
Oil is distributed unevenly over the earth.
Almost 80 percent is in the Eastern Hemisphere, and most of that is in the Middle East.
Only about 17 percent of known oil reserves are in North America, Western Europe, and Central and South America.
The Middle East has 10 times more oil reserves than North America.
The numbers, in billions of barrels, are 684 for the Middle East and 64 for North America.
Added together, the Middle East countries and the countries of the former Soviet Union hold more than 70 percent of the world’s reserves of natural gas.
Only 7 percent of the world’s reserves of natural gas are in North America.
