April 1, 2024
Global natural gas reserves increased from 196 trillion cubic meters (Tcm) in 2010 to 205 Tcm in 2017. Reserves then declined from 2017 through 2020 to about 202 Tcm. Reserves jumped from the 202 Tcm in 2021 to over 206 Tcm in 2022. Reserves in Russia decreased due to slow exploration activities. At the same time reserves in US reached 19.6 Tcm in 2022 up from 15.6 Tcm in 2021. US reserves growth was a main contributor to the world’s reserves growth. Since 2010, global natural gas reserves have increased about 5% in total.
The Top 10 countries in natural gas reserves represent about 80% of the worlds total. Russia has the largest natural gas reserves at almost 50 Bcm accounting for almost 1/4 of the worlds total. Russia is followed by Iran with about 35 Bcm and Qatar at about 25 Bcm.
Source: ENI World Energy Review 2023