Proved oil reserves in Europe and CIS by country 2010-2020

Oil reserves in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) far outweighed those in Europe, with the vast majority located in Russia, followed by Kazakhstan. In 2020, there were 107.8 billion barrels worth of oil reserves in Russia, which represents a slight increase from the previous year. In comparison, reserves amounted to 7.9 billion in Norway, the largest in Europe.

EU oil production in decline

Since the turn of the century, the volume of oil production in the European Union has declined significantly. During this period, production was at a peak in 2000 at 168 million metric tons. By 2020 this had fallen to 19 million metric tons. The United Kingdom was an important oil producer in the EU but has seen its reserves decrease by approximately half since 1995.

Global reserves

  Whilst Russia has the largest oil reserves in Europe and CIS, Saudi Arabia has by far the greatest conventional oil reserve globally. Saudi Arabia and Venezuela had a combined share of approximately 34.7 percent of all global oil reserves.