Comparing Oil-Producing Countries by Production Costs and Output

Summary

The document is a country-level table of oil production economics. It lists operational cost, capital cost, total cost, estimated reserves, daily production, and the 2015 average oil price for twenty producers. The figures allow readers to compare reported costs across countries and to relate those costs to reserve and output scale. For example, the listed total costs span from single-digit dollars per barrel for some producers to above fifty dollars for others, while the benchmark average price is the same in every row.

This can serve as a basic reference for thinking about differences in producer economics and potential sensitivity to oil prices. However, the document provides no source, definitions, date for most estimates, or explanation of how costs were calculated. A country-level average also obscures variation among fields and production methods, and the table alone does not establish profitability, marginal supply response, or an investment strategy. The figures should therefore be treated as a snapshot dataset rather than a complete cost-curve analysis.

Key ideas

• The table compares operational, capital, and total oil production costs across twenty countries.
• It also reports reserves, daily production, and a common 2015 average oil price for each country.
• The listed cost levels vary substantially across producers, providing a basis for comparing relative cost exposure.
• No sources or calculation methods are given, and country averages may conceal differences among individual fields.
• The dataset does not by itself show profitability, supply responses, or trading performance.

Tags

# oil production cost curve


Country,Operational cost dollar per barrel,Capital cost dollar per barrel,Total cost dollar per barrel,Reserve k mil barrels,Daily production mil barrels,2015 average price
United Kingdom,21.8,30.7,52.5,2.5423575,0.963415531,52.4
Brazil,17.3,31.5,48.8,12.99978129,2.524976918,52.4
Canada,18.7,22.4,41,171.5123079,4.388135578,52.4
US,21.5,14.8,36.2,47.987,12.77291501,52.4
Norway,24,12.1,36.1,8.005041226,1.9400792,52.4
Angola,18.8,16.6,35.4,9.524,1.795646188,52.4
Colombia,15.5,19.8,35.3,2.308,1.005574436,52.4
Nigeria,16.2,15.3,31.6,37.062,2.201408745,52.4
China,15.6,14.3,29.9,25.62646431,4.308835068,52.4
Mexico,18.3,10.7,29.1,7.9765,2.586540847,52.4
Kazakhstan,16.3,11.5,27.8,30,1.694757886,52.4
Libya,16.6,7.2,23.8,48.363,0.436643836,52.4
Venezuela,9.6,13.9,23.5,300.8783,2.630863,52.4
Algeria,13.2,7.2,20.4,12.2,1.557665233,52.4
Russian Federation,8.9,8.4,17.2,102.3752,11.00667742,52.4
Iran,6.9,5.7,12.6,158.4,3.852759885,52.4
United Arab Emirates,6.6,5.7,12.3,97.8,3.897972489,52.4
Iraq,5.6,5.1,10.7,142.503,3.985940667,52.4
Saudi Arabia,4.5,5.4,9.9,266.455,11.99793798,52.4
Kuwait,3.7,4.8,8.5,101.5,3.060775981,52.4

Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: Apache-2.0

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.