OPEC's Annual Statistical Bulletin for launch 16 July 2012

The OPEC Secretariat is pleased to announce the release of the online edition of its 2012 Annual Statistical Bulletin, the ASB.

Now in its 47th year, the ASB is a compilation of statistical data about oil and natural gas activities in OPEC's 12 Member Countries (Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela) as well as in non-OPEC oil producing countries around the world. It provides detailed time-series data on different aspects of the global petroleum industry, including imports and exports, upstream and downstream projects, and exploration and production activities.

Some highlights from this year's ASB are as follows:

• World crude oil production increased in 2011 by 0.9%, with different regions showing heterogeneous results. While Canadian, US and Middle East crude production increased, Western European and African production showed declines. In OPEC Member Countries, crude oil production was up 3% in 2011 year-on-year.
• World oil consumption last year also increased by 0.9%, but this growth was seen solely in emerging economies, primarily in Asia - and in particular, China - but also in Latin America and the Middle East. In OPEC Member Countries, oil consumption increased by 0.2 mb/d or 2% year-on-year.
• Proven crude oil reserves in OPEC Member Countries increased slightly in 2011, almost reaching 1.2 billion barrels. OPEC's percentage share of reserves stood at 81% at year-end, largely unchanged from 2010.
• OPEC Member Countries continued to play an important role in the natural gas market last year, with proven natural gas reserves of 95,020 billion standard cubic metres, an increase of 0.8% over 2010, making a total world share of 48.4%.
• Refinery capacity in OPEC Member Countries rose by 0.7% during 2011, indicating that they held 10.1% of total world refinery capacity, compared to 9.9% in 2010.
• The bulk of the crude oil exported by OPEC Member Countries during 2011 went to Asian and Pacific countries, with 12.5 mb/d or 54.0% of the total. North America and Europe followed, importing 4.9 mb/d or 21.1%, and 3.7 mb/d or 16.0%, respectively.
• OPEC Member Countries also exported 4.5 mb/d of petroleum product exports in 2011. The bulk of this went to Asian and Pacific countries with 2.1 mb/d or 49.8% of the total. North American and Latin American countries followed, with 0.6 mb/d or 13.6%, and 0.5 mb/d or 11.8%, respectively.

The hard copy of the ASB will be released along with the World Oil Outlook later this year, at a Press Conference to be held on 8 November.

To download the pdf version of the ASB, please visit the OPEC website: www.opec.org.