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Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. Business Information, Profile, and History

2121 Airline Highway, Suite 400
P.O. Box 578
Metairie, Louisiana 70001-5979
U.S.A.

Company Perspectives:

Our mission is to provide worldwide helicopter services that are unsurpassed in safety and customer satisfaction. We are a team dedicated to continuous improvement in an environment that promotes trust, personal growth and mutual respect.

History of Petroleum Helicopters, Inc.

Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. (PHI), based in Louisiana, operates one of the largest fleets of commercial helicopters in the world. It provides a wide and diverse range of transportation services to the petroleum company, principally in the Gulf Mexico. It also has contract operations at various places throughout the world, including spots in South America, Asia, and Africa. The company also provides medical and emergency evacuation services, including a growing air ambulance operation. In addition, PHI conducts extensive pilot and crew training and helicopter-repair services, which in no small measure account for its excellent safety record. Although it is a public company, 51 percent of its stock is owned by CEO Carroll Suggs, widow to Robert Suggs, the company's renowned founder.

1949-59: Starting Out to Fill Oil Industry Needs in Louisiana

With the close of World War II, a marsh-land and offshore oil and gas industry began emerging in states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, notably Texas and Louisiana. The placement of drilling rigs in remote or difficult to access places posed significant problems. In Louisiana, seismograph crews often had to traverse rugged terrain in four-wheel drive jeeps and trucks, and marshes and swamps in swamp buggies, sometimes getting bogged down. It was a slow and fairly dangerous way to get to potential drilling sites. Jack Lee, who was then president of a seismographic company, was appalled by the situation and anxious to find a viable alternative. Thinking that helicopters could provide both a more efficient and safer mode of transport for his crews, Lee approached Robert L. Suggs and M.M. Bayon with his idea. Under the leadership of Suggs, the new company officially went into business on February 21, 1949, with an initial investment of $100,000, three Bell 47 D model helicopters, and a small workforce of eight employees. The company was initially named Petroleum Bell Helicopters, Inc.

Potential use of PHI's services quickly increased when, in the 1950s, offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico started its rapid expansion. The company was already positioned to provide timely transport services to and from drilling rigs and platforms, not just for seismic crews but for other industry offshore workers and equipment. By 1952, it also began expanding its services on an international scale, starting up operations in oil field locations outside up the lower, 48 states of the United States. By the end of the decade, it had operations in Alaska, Canada, Bolivia, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Greenland.

The changes in the nature of its services required larger aircraft, and in 1955, PHI began using Sirkorsky S-55s. In the same year, the company designed and built offshore refueling facilities in the Gulf of Mexico for its growing fleet of rotary-blade aircraft. By 1959, it had added Sirkorsky S-58s to its fleet and, among other things, used them to transport power poles over mountainous terrain in Puerto Rico. Such special use of its helicopters demonstrated PHI's willingness to adapt to the needs of its customers.

It was also in the 1950s that PHI began taking significant steps towards achieving the industry's premier safety record. At that time there was a paucity of helpful guidelines for helicopter maintenance and operation, reliable ground rules for ensuring the safe and efficient use of the aircraft. In 1956, the company established its own in-house training program, something that thereafter played a major part in its enviable reputation for safety and high quality of service.

1960s: Continued Expansion and Unique Missions

In the 1960s PHI continued to expand its operations both at home and abroad. Demands for its services were quickly growing. Between 1961 and 1963, its number of flight hours increased from 200,000 to 300,000 hours. Eventually, customer needs would take the company to 42 countries, where it established associations that in some cases lasted to the end of the century. An important step occurred in 1967, when PHI began operating in Africa, in Angola, or what was then Portuguese West Africa. The long range development of Angola's Cabinda Gulf Oil Company has ever since kept a fairly sizable number of PHI aircraft and personnel working there.

Starting even earlier, in the 1950s, PHI also established a reputation for public service, even the extremely dangerous work of saving lives during disasters, notably the great hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean. For instance, in 1961, when Hurricane Carla slammed into the Texas coast with winds of 145 mph, PHI pilots rescued 500 people. During the decade, such heroic efforts won several PHI pilots Winged S Awards for rescue work under hazardous conditions. It was in the mid-1960s that PHI also engaged in the first of many unique missions for the U.S. government when one of its pilots undertook the mid-air retrieval of a rocket-launched space module upon its return to earth. Thereafter, PHI often worked for NASA, retrieving objects released from spacecraft. The company was also undertaking some unique assignments for other agencies and businesses, developing a diverse range of uses for its craft and crews outside petroleum industry needs.

By the end of the 1960s, PHI's fleet of aircraft numbered 87. The rapid growth of the offshore oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico fueled PHI's own expansion. As a result, in 1969 PHI built a new facility, the Lake Palourde Heliport at Morgan City, Louisiana, which was then the largest heliport in the world. The growth also required a tracking system that would allow reliable communications between pilots and flight-following facilities throughout their missions. PHI began developing such a system, one that would ultimately become a computerized network allowing effective and dependable communications with airborne pilots from Texas to Florida.

1970s: Oil Boom Leads to PHI's Accelerated Expansion

No decade in the 20th century matched that of the 1970s for the petroleum and related industries in the United States. It was boom time pure and simple. By the time that it began, PHI already had in place techniques and procedures for ensuring safety and quality service, setting industry standards.

By the decade's first year, PHI had logged over 1 million flight hours, the first commercial helicopter company in the world to achieve that milestone. Two years later, in 1972, PHI placed a major order for new helicopters costing about $5 million. The purchase increased the company's fleet to 233 aircraft by 1974, when PHI was employing almost 1,000 people. The company continued to find diverse uses for its fleet of rotary-winged aircraft. In 1971, in Costa Rica, its pilots fashioned a sling load technique for transporting goods to offshore rigs, including pallets of bananas weighing two tons.

PHI growth was steady and very strong through the entire decade. At the time of its 25th anniversary in 1974, it was maintaining operations at 13 Gulf Coast and 5 foreign bases. By the end of the decade, the company's fleet reached 308 aircraft, the largest non-military fleet of helicopters in the world. Only the fleets of the U.S. and Soviet Union militaries were larger.

1980s: PHI Weathers the Oil Industry's Collapse

Unfortunately for U.S. oil and related industries, the boom did not last, and with the resulting collapse in the early 1980s, PHI faced the prospect of a major decline in the oil field's need for its services. Robert Suggs and his staff knew that the company's continued growth would depend on increasing diversification. An important step was taken in 1981 when, in support of Acadian Ambulance's newly created Air Med Program, PHI put its Aeromedical Services Division into operation. The company quickly became one of the major providers of air medical services, expanding beyond its Louisiana base by mid-decade.

In 1984, it reached another milestone when it logged its five-millionth flight hour. At that time, it was operating a fleet of 417 aircraft. Nationally, it also greatly enhanced its profile through its support of the Los Angeles Olympics and its participation in the Louisiana World's Fair Exposition, where it prominently displayed one of its Sirkorsky S-76 helicopters on the deck of an oil rig erected for the event. It was the same model helicopter that in 1986 PHI put into use for its medical helicopter support of the Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center's services. It was also in 1986 that PHI introduced innovations in training services with in-house courses focusing on the impact of human factors on pilots and their decision making. Another innovation came in 1988, when the company established PHI Technical Services, a new business providing maintenance services to third-party customers.

When founder Robert Suggs suffered a fatal heart attack in 1989, there was some apprehension about PHI's future, including a possible corporate raid, but Carroll Suggs, his widow, quickly allayed concerns when, in 1990, she took over the company's reins as chairman, president, and CEO. In an industry dominated by males, she demonstrated that she could get the job done, garnering several awards in the process.

1990-2000: PHI Tightens Corporate Belt but Continues to Grow and Diversify

In 1990, PHI had a fleet of 291 copters or one out of every 69 non-military whirlybirds in the world. In its primary use market,

1949:Company is founded by Robert L. Suggs.

1952:PHI begins its international expansion.

1956:Company begins in-house training program.

1966:Aerospace role begins with work for NASA.

1970:PHI reaches over one million flight hours.

1981:PHI starts up its Aeromedical Services Division.

1982:Oil bust hits industry hard, but diversification helps PHI.

1989:Robert Suggs, PHI's founder, dies.

1990:Carroll Suggs becomes chairman, president, and CEO.

1991:PHI reaches seven million flight hours.

1997:Company acquires Air Evac Services.

1999:PHI opens new heliport facility in Boothville/Venice, Louisiana, and begins construction of new operations and maintenance facility in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Despite the U.S. oil industry's stagnation, PHI continued to grow. By 1991, it had logged its seven millionth flight hour. It was also reaching some important milestones. Under Carroll Suggs' leadership, the company attained a new level as a service-orientated and customer-driven organization, one able to customize operations to fit the specific needs of its clients. Suggs also stressed PHI's continued commitment to both safety and diversification. In order to improve its already enviable safety record, the company dedicated a million dollars annually to a safety incentive program. The result was that PHI's accident rate fell to one-seventh of the national average. Its excellent safety record earned the company international recognition and several awards, including, in 1996, the Federal Aviation Administration's High Flyer Award.

Among other new challenges, in 1994, during the Haiti embargo, PHI put some of its craft to use patrolling the Haiti-Dominican Republic border, making it the first civilian company chosen for such a service. In 1997, it was also selected as the first civilian operator to support the National Science Foundation's Antarctica Program. It was also a landmark year in other ways. Among other important measures, PHI established Acadian Composites, Inc., which repairs and overhauls structural composite panels on helicopters. It also acquired the Arizona-based Air Evac Services, Inc., the country's largest air medical transport service.

Through the decade, PHI continued to play a major role during disasters. For instance, in 1997 it began fighting fires for the U.S. Forestry Service, and in the following year helped transport food and medical supplies to Nicaragua, which had been ravaged by flooding caused by Hurricane Mitch.

A new downturn in oil prices in the late 1990s led to a further reduction in drilling activity in the Gulf of Mexico with disappointing results for PHI. The worst year was 1999, when the Gulf drilling rig count dropped to its lowest on record and, in real dollar terms, the price of crude oil plummeted to lows not posted since the Great Depression. Although the company realized record revenues, its flight hours in the area and income from its transport services declined from the previous year and resulted in some further belt-tightening measures, including the sale of underused assets and a reduction in labor costs. However, a solid increase in revenues from its Aeromedical and Technical Services operations helped offset the impact of the decline in production rigs. Between them, the operations produced an increase in revenue of $14.3 million, a growth, respectively, of 30 and 25 percent over the previous year.

At the close of the century, despite the volatility of the oil market, PHI remained very upbeat. It looked for new ways to use its air fleet and planned for additional growth In August 1999, it ended construction and put into operation a new, state-of-the-art heliport in Boothville/Venice, Louisiana named the Robert L Suggs Heliport in memory of PHI's founder. At year's end, it was also on its way to completing its new operations and maintenance facility in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Principal Subsidiaries: Air Evac Services, Inc.; Acadian Composites, L.L.C.; Evangeline Airmotive, Inc.

Principal Competitors: Offshore Logistics, Inc.; Air Methods Corporation; Rowan Companies, Inc.

Related information about Petroleum

Crude oil, probably of biological origin, occurring as accumulations under impervious rock. Normally liquid, it ranges from being light and mobile to very viscous, and is often associated with gas or water. Its main constituents are a variety of hydrocarbons, but there may also be sulphur, nitrogen, or oxygen compounds. It is found chiefly in the USA, several republics of the former USSR, Middle East, Venezuela, North Africa, and the North Sea.

Petroleum is found in porous rock formations in the upper strata of some areas of the Earth's crust. Petroleum is used mostly, by volume, for producing fuel oil and petrol (gasoline), both important "primary energy" sources (IEA Key World Energy Statistics). Petroleum is also the raw material for many chemical products, including solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics.

Formation

Biogenic theory

Most geologists view crude oil, like coal and natural gas, as the product of compression and heating of ancient organic materials over geological time. According to this theory, oil is formed from the preserved remains of prehistoric zooplankton and algae which have been settled to the sea bottom in large quantities under anoxic conditions. (Terrestrial plants tend to form coal, and very few dinosaurs have been converted into oil.) Over geological time this organic matter, mixed with mud, is buried under heavy layers of sediment. The resulting high levels of heat and pressure cause the remains to metamorphose, first into a waxy material known as kerogen which is found in various oil shales around the world, and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in a process known as catagenesis. Concentration of hydrocarbons in a trap forms an oil field, from which the liquid can be extracted by drilling and pumping.

Geologists often refer to an "oil window" which is the temperature range that oil forms in?below the minimum temperature oil remains trapped in the form of kerogen, and above the maximum temperature the oil is converted to natural gas through the process of thermal cracking. fact Majority opinion is that oil is being formed at less than 1% of the current consumption rate.

The vast majority of oil that has been produced by the earth has long ago escaped to the surface and been biodegraded by oil-eating bacteria. On the other hand, oil shales are source rocks that have never been buried deep enough to convert their trapped kerogen into oil.

The reactions that produce oil and natural gas are often modeled as first order breakdown reactions, where kerogen is broken down to oil and natural gas by a set of parallel reactions, and oil eventually breaks down to natural gas by another set of reactions.

Abiogenic theory

The idea of abiogenic petroleum origin was championed in the Western world by astronomer Thomas Gold based on thoughts from Russia, mainly on studies of Nikolai Kudryavtsev. Thermophilic, rock-dwelling microbial life-forms are proposed to be in part responsible for the biomarkers found in petroleum.

However, this theory is a minority opinion, especially amongst geologists and no oil companies are currently known to explore for oil based on this theory. Historically, in the USA, some oil fields existed where the oil rose naturally to the surface, but most of these fields have long since been depleted, except for certain remote locations in Alaska. Also, some wells (secondary wells) may be used to pump water, steam, acids or various gas mixtures into the reservoir to raise or maintain the reservoir pressure, and so maintain an economic extraction rate.

If the underground pressure in the oil reservoir is sufficient, then the oil will be forced to the surface under this pressure. In this situation it is sufficient to place a complex arrangement of valves (the Christmas tree) on the well head to connect the well to a pipeline network for storage and processing. If economical, and it often is, the remaining oil in the well is extracted using secondary oil recovery methods (see: energy balance and net energy gain). Sometimes pumps, such as beam pumps and electrical submersible pumps (ESPs), are used to bring the oil to the surface. Other secondary recovery techniques increase the reservoir's pressure by water injection, natural gas reinjection and gas lift, which injects air, carbon dioxide or some other gas into the reservoir. Together, primary and secondary recovery allow 25% to 35% of the reservoir's oil to be recovered.

Tertiary oil recovery reduces the oil's viscosity to increase oil production. More than four thousand years ago, according to Herodotus and confirmed by Diodorus Siculus, asphalt was employed in the construction of the walls and towers of Babylon. Ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society.

The first oil wells were drilled in China in the 4th century or earlier. The oil was burned to evaporate brine and produce salt. By the 10th century, extensive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells with salt springs.

In the 8th century, the streets of the newly constructed Baghdad were paved with tar, derived from easily accessible petroleum from natural fields in the region. In the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in Baku, Azerbaijan, to produce naphtha. These fields were described by the geographer Masudi in the 10th century, and by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads. (See also: Timeline of Islamic science and technology.)

The modern history of petroleum began in 1846, with the discovery of the process of refining kerosene from coal by Atlantic Canada's Abraham Pineo Gesner. Poland's Ignacy ?ukasiewicz discovered a means of refining kerosene from the more readily available "rock oil" ("petr-oleum") in 1852 and the first rock oil mine was built in B坦brka, near Krosno in southern Poland in the following year. These discoveries rapidly spread around the world, and Meerzoeff built the first Russian refinery in the mature oil fields at Baku in 1861. The battle of Stalingrad was fought over Baku (now the capital of the Azerbaijan Republic).

, 1938.
The first modern oil well was drilled in 1848 by Russian engineer F.N. Semyonov, on the Aspheron Peninsula north-east of Baku.]]

The first commercial oil well drilled in North America was in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada in 1858, dug by James Miller Williams. The American petroleum industry began with Edwin Drake's discovery of oil in 1859, near Titusville, Pennsylvania; Early "local" finds like those in Pennsylvania and Ontario were quickly exhausted, leading to "oil booms" in Texas, Oklahoma, and California.

By 1910, significant oil fields had been discovered in Canada (specifically, in the province of Alberta), the Dutch East Indies (1885, in Sumatra), Persia (1908, in Masjed Soleiman), Peru, Venezuela, and Mexico, and were being developed at an industrial level.

Even until the mid-1950s, coal was still the world's foremost fuel, but oil quickly took over. Following the 1973 energy crisis and the 1979 energy crisis, there was significant media coverage of oil supply levels. Others argue that technology will continue to allow for the production of cheap hydrocarbons and that the earth has vast sources of unconventional petroleum reserves in the form of tar sands, bitumen fields and oil shale that will allow for petroleum use to continue in the future, with both the Canadian tar sands and United States shale oil deposits representing potential reserves matching existing liquid petroleum deposits worldwide.

Today, about 90% of vehicular fuel needs are met by oil. Access to it was a major factor in several military conflicts, including World War I, World War II and the Persian Gulf War. The top three oil producing countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United States. About 80% of the world's readily accessible reserves are located in the Middle East, with 62.5% coming from the Arab 5: Saudi Arabia (12.5%), UAE, Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait. The best known such methods involve extracting oil from sources such as oil shale or tar sands. however, extracting the oil at low cost without negatively impacting the environment remains a challenge.

It is also possible to transform natural gas or coal into oil (or, more precisely, the various hydrocarbons found in oil). It was a concept pioneered in Nazi Germany when imports of petroleum were restricted due to war and Germany found a method to extract oil from coal. It was known as Ersatz ("substitute" in German), and accounted for nearly half the total oil used in WWII by Germany. Ideally, a ton of coal produces nearly 200 liters (1.25 bbl, 52 US gallons) of crude, with by-products ranging from tar to rare chemicals.

Currently, two companies have commercialised their Fischer-Tropsch technology. Shell in Bintulu, Malaysia, uses natural gas as a feedstock, and produces primarily low-sulfur diesel fuels. Sasol in South Africa uses coal as a feedstock, and produces a variety of synthetic petroleum products.
The process is today used in South Africa to produce most of the country's diesel fuel from coal by the company Sasol. This process has received renewed attention in the quest to produce low sulfur diesel fuel in order to minimize the environmental impact from the use of diesel engines.

Production, consumption and alternatives

The term alternative propulsion or "alternative methods of propulsion" includes both

alternative fuels used in standard or modified internal combustion engines (i.e. combustion hydrogen).
propulsion systems not based on internal combustion, such as those based on electricity (for example, electric or hybrid vehicles), compressed air, or fuel cells (i.e. hydrogen fuel cells).

The nowdays cars can be classified between the next main groups:

Pampetro cars, this is, only uses petroleum.
Hybrid vehicle, that uses petroleum and other source, generally, electricity.
Petrofree car, that do not use petroleum, like 100 % electric cars, hydrogen vehicles...

See also: renewable energy, greenhouse gas, climate change.

Image:Hubbert world 2004.png|2004 U.S. government predictions for oil production other than in OPEC and the former Soviet Union
Image:World energy consumption, 1970-2025, EIA.png|World energy consumption, 1970-2025. The name is derived from the black color of crude oil combined with its status as a highly valuable resource, serving in the industrial age, in many ways, the same role that gold did in the pre-industrial era.

In the Appalachian Mountains of the United States, a major coal-producing region, the term refers to coal. In Taiwan, it means iron, petroleum, and coal.

The term was used in the theme song of the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies, along with the term "Texas Tea", another synonym for crude oil.

Environmental effects

The presence of oil has significant social and environmental impacts, from accidents and routine activities such as seismic exploration, drilling, and generation of polluting wastes. Oil extraction is costly and sometimes environmentally damaging, although Dr. John Hunt of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution pointed out in a 1981 paper that over 70% of the reserves in the world are associated with visible macroseepages, and many oil fields are found due to natural leaks. Extraction may involve dredging, which stirs up the seabed, killing the sea plants that marine creatures need to survive. Crude oil and refined fuel spills from tanker ship accidents have damaged fragile ecosystems in Alaska, the Galapagos Islands, Spain, and many other places.

Burning oil releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. amelioration strategies such as carbon sequestering are generally geared for large power plants, not individual vehicles.

Renewable energy alternatives do exist, although the degree to which they can replace petroleum and the possible environmental damage they may cause are uncertain and controversial. Sun, wind, geothermal, and other renewable electricity sources cannot directly replace high energy density liquid petroleum for transportation use; instead automobiles and other equipment must be altered to allow using electricity (in batteries) or hydrogen (via fuel cells or internal combustion) which can be produced from renewable sources. Other options include using biomass-origin liquid fuels (ethanol, biodiesel). Any combination of solutions to replace petroleum as a liquid transportation fuel will be a very large undertaking.

(See also Hydrogen economy.)

Future of oil

The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, is a theory concerning the long-term rate of production of conventional oil and other fossil fuels. China has confirmed that two of its largest producing regions are in decline, and Mexico's national oil company, Pemex, has announced that Cantarell Field, one of the world's largest offshore fields, is expected to peak in 2006, and then decline 14% per annum.

For various reasons (perhaps most importantly the lack of transparency in accounting of global oil reserves), it is difficult to predict the oil peak in any given region.

Classification

The oil industry classifies "crude" by the location of its origin (e.g., "West Texas Intermediate, WTI" or "Brent") and often by its relative weight (API gravity) or viscosity ("light", "intermediate" or "heavy"); refiners may also refer to it as "sweet," which means it contains relatively little sulfur, or as "sour," which means it contains substantial amounts of sulfur and requires more refining in order to meet current product specifications. Each crude oil has unique molecular characteristics which are understood by the use of crude oil assay analysis in petroleum laboratories.

The world reference barrels are:

Brent Crude, comprising 15 oils from fields in the Brent and Ninian systems in the East Shetland Basin of the North Sea. The oil is landed at Sullom Voe terminal in the Shetlands. Oil production from Europe, Africa and Middle Eastern oil flowing West tends to be priced off the price of this oil, which forms a benchmark.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for North American oil.
Dubai, used as benchmark for Middle East oil flowing to the Asia-Pacific region.
Tapis (from Malaysia, used as a reference for light Far East oil)
Minas (from Indonesia, used as a reference for heavy Far East oil)
The OPEC basket used to be the average price of the following blends:
- Arab Light Saudi Arabia
- Bonny Light Nigeria
- Fateh Dubai
- Isthmus Mexico (non-OPEC)
- Minas Indonesia
- Saharan Blend Algeria
- Tia Juana Light Venezuela

OPEC attempts to keep the price of the Opec Basket between upper and lower limits, by increasing and decreasing production.

Pricing

References to the oil prices are usually either references to the spot price of either WTI/Light Crude as traded on New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) for delivery in Cushing, Oklahoma; or the price of Brent as traded on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE, which the International Petroleum Exchange has been incorporated into) for delivery at Sullom Voe. The vast majority of oil will not be traded on an exchange but on an over-the-counter basis, typically with reference to a marker crude oil grade that is typically quoted via pricing agencies such as Argus Media Ltd and Platts. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) uses the Imported Refiner Acquisition Cost, the weighted average cost of all oil imported into the US as their "world oil price".

It is often claimed that OPEC sets the oil price and the true cost of a barrel of oil is around $2, which is equivalent to the cost of extraction of a barrel in the Middle East. (see Oil price increases of 2004-2006).)

Individuals can now trade crude oil through online trading sites margin account or their banks through structured products indexed on the Commodities markets.

See also History and Analysis of Crude Oil Prices, asymmetric price transmission, and Crude oil price Benchmarks

Top petroleum-producing countries

Source: Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government.

For oil reserves by country, see Oil reserves by country.

In order of amount produced in 2004 (MMbbl/d = millions of barrels per day):

Saudi Arabia (OPEC) - 10.37 MMbbl/d
Russia - 9.27 MMbbl/d
United States ¹ - 8.69 MMbbl/d
Iran (OPEC) - 4.09 MMbbl/d
Mexico ¹ - 3.83 MMbbl/d
China ¹ - 3.62 MMbbl/d
Norway ¹ - 3.18 MMbbl/d
Canada ^1,3 - 3.14 MMbbl/d
Venezuela (OPEC) ¹ - 2.86 MMbbl/d
United Arab Emirates (OPEC) - 2.76 MMbbl/d
Kuwait (OPEC) - 2.51 MMbbl/d
Nigeria (OPEC) - 2.51 MMbbl/d
United Kingdom (Scotland) ¹ - 2.08 MMbbl/d
Iraq (OPEC) ² - 2.03 MMbbl/d

¹ peak production of conventional oil already passed in this state

² Though still a member, Iraq has not been included in production figures since 1998

³ Canada has the world's second largest oil reserves when tar sands are included, and is the leading source of U.S. imports, averaging 1.7 MMbbl/d in April 2006 tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_epc0_im0_mbblpd_m.htm.

In order of amount exported in 2003:

Saudi Arabia (OPEC)
Russia
Norway ¹
Iran (OPEC)
United Arab Emirates (OPEC)
Venezuela (OPEC) ¹
Kuwait (OPEC)
Nigeria (OPEC)
Mexico ¹
Algeria (OPEC)
Libya (OPEC) ¹

¹ peak production already passed in this state

Note that the USA consumes almost all of its own production, while the UK has recently become a net-importer rather than net-exporter.

Total world production/consumption (as of 2005) is approximately 84 million barrels per day.

See also: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Petroleum in Military Strategy

In World War II the Soviet Union sought to protect their oil fields from falling into the hands of Nazi Germany at the Battle of Stalingrad.
Many countries have a strategic oil reserve in the event of war or loss of oil supplies.
During the Iran-Iraq War many nations sent military ships to escort tankers carrying oil.
During the Gulf War, Iraq's retreating troops burned Kuwait's oil fields in order to give them air cover, to slow the advance of pursuing coalition forces, and to damage the Kuwaiti economy.
During the Iraq War the United States had military units work to quickly secure oil fields and remove boobytraps. It also had units guarding the Ministry of Petroleum in Baghdad.

Petroleum in the media

Books about the petroleum industry

Books about petroleum supply

Films about petroleum

Syriana

Writers covering the petroleum industry

Brian Black
Colin J. Deffeyes
Thomas Gold
David Goodstein
Jay Hanson
Daniel Yergin
Derrick Jensen

Additional topics

Company HistoryAirlines & Air Transport

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