List of countries by natural gas proven reserves

This is a list of countries by natural gas proven reserves based on The World Factbook (when no citation is given).[1] or other authoritative third-party sources (as cited). Based on data from BP, at the end of 2009, proved gas reserves were dominated by three countries: Iran, Russia, and Qatar, which together held nearly half the world's proven reserves.[2]

Countries by natural gas proven reserves (2014), based on data from The World Factbook.

Countries by natural gas and oil proven reserves (2015)

World natural gas proven reserves 1960–2012 (OPEC)

Trends in the five countries with largest proven reserves of natural gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration

There is some disagreement on which country has the largest proven gas reserves. Sources that consider that Russia has by far the largest proven reserves include the US CIA (47600 cubic kilometers),[3] the US Energy Information Administration (49000 km³),[4] and OPEC (48810 km³).[5] However, BP credits Russia with only 32900 km³,[6] which would place it in second place, slightly behind Iran (33100 to 33800 km³, depending on the source).

Due to constant announcements of shale gas recoverable reserves, as well as drilling in Central Asia, South America and Africa, deepwater drilling, estimates are undergoing frequent updates, mostly increasing. Since 2000, some countries, notably the US and Canada, have seen large increases in proved gas reserves due to development of shale gas, but shale gas deposits in most countries are yet to be added to reserve calculations.

Proven Reserves (km³)	U.S. EIA (start of 2018)[7]		OPEC (start of 2018)[8]		BP (start of 2018)[9]		Other		Reserves-to-production ratio
Country	Rank	Reserves	Rank	Reserves	Rank	Reserves	Source/Date	Reserves	Production(km³/year)	Years
Russia	1	47,805	1	50,617	1	35,000
Iran (see: Natural gas reserves in Iran)	2	33,721	2	33,810	2	33,200
Qatar	3	24,072	3	23,861	3	24,900
United States (see: Natural gas in the United States)	4	15,484	5	9,067	5	8,700			866 [10]	~17~ (if by U.S. EIA and International Energy Agency[11])
Saudi Arabia	5	9,200	6	8,715	6	8,000
Turkmenistan	6	7,504	4	9,838	4	19,500
United Arab Emirates	7	6,091	7	6,091	8	5,900
Venezuela	8	5,740	8	5,707	7	6,400
Nigeria	9	5,475	9	5,627	10	5,200
China (see: Natural gas in China)	10	5,440	13	2,934	9	5,500
Algeria	11	4,504	10	4,504	11	4,300
Iraq	12	3,820	11	3,744	13	3,500
Indonesia	13	2,866	15	2,866	14	2,900
Mozambique	14	2,832
Kazakhstan	15	2,407	19	1,898		1,100
Egypt	16	2,186	17	2,221	17	1,800
Canada (see: Natural gas in Canada)	17	2,056	18	2,059	16	1,900
Australia	18	1,989	12	3,173	12	3,600
Uzbekistan	19	1,841	21	1,564		1,200
Kuwait	20	1,784	20	1,784	18/19	1,700
Norway	21	1,782	16	2,314	18/19	1,700
Libya	22	1,505	22	1,505	20	1,400
India	23	1,290	23	1,289		1,200
Malaysia	24	1,183	14	2,909	15	2,700
Ukraine	25	1,104	35	304		1,100
Azerbaijan	26	991	24	1,227	14	2,800
Netherlands	27	801	26	804		700
Vietnam	28	699	39	203		600
Oman	29	651	25	884		700
Myanmar	30	637	36	273		1,200
Pakistan	31	589	27	757		400
Yemen	32	479				300
Morocco	33	474		474
Peru	34	456	28	513		400
Trinidad and Tobago	35	447	29	433		300
Brazil	36	377	33	325		400
Argentina	37	337	31	381		300
Angola	38	308	30	422
Bolivia	39	296	34	310		300
Mexico	40	280	42	146		200
Brunei	41	261	38	252
Syria	42	241		300		300
Papua New Guinea	43	211				200
Thailand	44	193	40	180		200
Bangladesh	45	186	32	346		200	Petrobangla, 16 Jan. 2018[12]	385
Israel	46	176				500
United Kingdom	47	176	37	269		200
Cameroon	48	135	41	152
Colombia	49	114	46	104		100
Romania	50	105	45	105		100
Philippines	51	98.5
Chile	52	98.0		5.30
Bahrain	53	92.0				200
Congo, Republic of the	54	90.6	44	111
Sudan	55	85.0
Poland	56	79.8	48	56.3		100
Cuba	57	70.8
Tunisia	58	65.1
Namibia	59	62.3
Rwanda	60	56.6
Afghanistan	61	49.6
Serbia	62	48.1
Germany	63	39.5	49	39.6		100
Italy	64	38.1	50	27.1		100
Equatorial Guinea	65	36.8	45	145
New Zealand	66	33.7
Cote d'Ivoire	67/68	28.2
Mauritania	67/68	28.2
Gabon	67/68	28.2		25.5
Croatia	69/70	24.9
Ethiopia	69/70	24.9
Ghana	71	22.7
Japan	72	20.9
Slovakia	73/74	14.2
Uganda	73/74	14.2
Denmark	75	12.9	47	73.9		100
Ecuador	76	10.9		5.4
Ireland	77	9.91
Georgia	78	8.50
France	79	8.41
Korea, South	80	7.08
Hungary	81	6.60
Austria	82/83	6.51
Tanzania	82/83	6.51
Taiwan	84	6.23
Jordan	85	6.03
Bulgaria	86/89	5.66
Somalia	86/89	5.66
Tajikistan	86/89	5.66
Kyrgyzstan	86/89	5.66
Turkey	90	5.10
Czech Republic	91	3.96							0.229 [13]	~17~ (if by U.S. EIA data (2018) and The World Factbook [14] data (2017) )
Belarus	92	2.83
Spain	93	2.55
Benin	95	1.13
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	96/97	0.991
Greece	96/97	0.991
Albania	98	0.821
Barbados	99	0.142
Armenia				18.0
Slovakia							ENI, start 2018[15]	4
South Africa							ENI, start 2018[16]	3
Moldova							ENI, start 2018[17]	20

• Star denotes includes "recoverable portion of shale reserves"

Comparison of proven natural gas reserves from different sources (cubic kilometers, as of 31 December 2014/1 January 2015)

Source	Canada	Iran	Russia	Saudi Arabia	United States	Venezuela
BP[18]	2,000	34,000	32,800	8,200	9,800	5,600
OPEC[19]	2,028	34,020	49,541	8,489	9,580	5,617
U.S. Energy Information Administration[20]	2,535	42,426	59,619	10,393	10,441	6,960

See also

• List of countries by natural gas production
• List of countries by proven oil reserves
• List of natural gas fields

References

1. Rank Order - Natural gas - proved reserves. Retrieved June 2014.
2. 2011 report on oil and gas companies, Promoting revenue Transparency Transparency International 2011 page reserves 113
3. Natural gas - proved reserves. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
4. US Energy Information Administration, . Retrieved 23 October 2015.
5. OPEC, Table 3.2 Natural gas proven reserves by country Archived 27 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
6. BP, BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2013. Archived 6 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
7. U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Statistics, accessed 17 Jan. 2019.
8. OPEC, Annual Statistical Bulletin 2018
9. BP, Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2018.
10. https://www.iea.org/reports/natural-gas-information-overview. 2018 data for clarity. Access date 01/17/2021.
11. https://www.iea.org/reports/natural-gas-information-overview. 2018 data for clarity. Access date 01/17/2021.
13. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/natural-gas-production/ access date - 01/17/2020
14. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/natural-gas-production/ access date - 01/17/2020
15. ENI, World Gas and Renewables Review, 2018.
16. ENI, World Gas and Renewables Review, 2018.
17. ENI, World Gas and Renewables Review, 2018.
18. BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2015
19. OPEC Statistical Bulletin, 2015.
20. International Data: Natural Gas Reserves, US EIA. Retrieved 3 July 2016.