The world
Where the oil and gas is, country by country: what each place is known for, why companies want to be there, and what keeps them up at night. An interactive world map is coming; this is the reading behind it.
South America
Venezuela
Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt
Holds the world's largest proven oil reserves, mostly extra-heavy crude.
Advantages
- Enormous reserves
- Very low cost in the ground
Risks
- Deep political risk and years of PDVSA mismanagement
- U.S. sanctions that switch on and off
- Heavy crude needs upgrading and diluent
For example
ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips had assets nationalized in 2007 and walked away, later winning arbitration awards. Most majors have stayed out since, and production collapsed from around 3 million barrels a day to a fraction of that.
Brazil
Santos & Campos pre-salt
Deepwater pre-salt fields off the southeast coast, led by Petrobras.
Advantages
- World-class, prolific offshore reservoirs
- Growing, low-decline output
Risks
- High deepwater cost and long lead times
- Local-content rules and Petrobras politics
For example
Fields like Búzios and Tupi made Brazil a top-ten producer and pulled in majors like Shell and TotalEnergies.
Guyana
Stabroek Block
The fastest-growing new oil province in the world, in deep water.
Advantages
- Huge, low-cost discoveries since 2015
- Very fast ramp to first oil
Risks
- Young institutions and a small economy
- Venezuela's territorial claim on the Essequibo region
For example
An ExxonMobil-led group with Hess and CNOOC took Guyana from zero to a major producer in under a decade.
Argentina
Vaca Muerta
One of the largest shale plays outside North America, in Patagonia.
Advantages
- World-class shale rock
- Big running room for oil and gas
Risks
- Currency swings, inflation, and capital controls
- Pipeline and export bottlenecks
For example
YPF and partners like Chevron have made Vaca Muerta the country's growth engine, when the economy cooperates.
Middle East
Saudi Arabia
Ghawar & the Eastern Province
Home of Ghawar, the largest conventional oil field ever found, run by Saudi Aramco.
Advantages
- Some of the lowest-cost barrels on earth
- Spare capacity that moves the whole market
Risks
- Geopolitical exposure
- Heavy concentration in one company and region
For example
Aramco's spare capacity lets Saudi Arabia act as the world's swing producer.
Qatar
North Field
Shares the world's largest gas field with Iran and is a top LNG exporter.
Advantages
- Enormous, cheap gas
- A leading global LNG position
Risks
- Regional politics
- Reliance on long-term LNG demand
For example
QatarEnergy's North Field expansion is one of the biggest LNG projects anywhere.
Iraq
Southern fields (Rumaila, West Qurna)
Some of the largest, cheapest onshore reserves in the world.
Advantages
- Huge low-cost reserves
Risks
- Security and political instability
- Tough service-contract terms for foreign firms
For example
Majors run big fields on service contracts, but instability pushed some, like ExxonMobil, to trim their exposure.
United Arab Emirates
ADNOC concessions
A stable Gulf producer expanding both oil capacity and gas.
Advantages
- Low cost and stable governance
- Aggressive investment and growth
Risks
- Regional geopolitics
For example
ADNOC has opened up to foreign and financial partners while pushing for higher capacity.
Africa
Nigeria
Niger Delta & deepwater
West Africa's largest producer, from the onshore delta to deep water.
Advantages
- Prolific geology and light, sweet crude
Risks
- Theft, sabotage, and security problems
- Regulatory and payment uncertainty
For example
Majors like Shell and ExxonMobil have been selling onshore assets to focus on deepwater and cut their security exposure.
Angola
Deepwater blocks
Deepwater oil off the West African coast.
Advantages
- Established deepwater basins
Risks
- Mature fields in decline
- Needs constant investment just to hold output
For example
Angola left OPEC in 2024 in a dispute over production quotas.
Libya
Sirte Basin
Large, high-quality reserves close to Europe.
Advantages
- Big reserves and light, sweet crude
- Short shipping distance to Europe
Risks
- Civil conflict and frequent production shut-ins
For example
Libyan output swings sharply with the security situation, sometimes overnight.
Europe & Eurasia
Norway
North Sea & Norwegian Sea
Europe's steady offshore producer, led by Equinor.
Advantages
- Strong rule of law and stable terms
- High-quality offshore fields
Risks
- High cost
- A mature basin that needs new finds
For example
The giant Johan Sverdrup field extended Norway's production well into this era.
United Kingdom
UK North Sea
A mature basin well past its peak.
Advantages
- Established infrastructure and expertise
Risks
- Steady decline and high cost
- Windfall taxes and policy uncertainty
For example
Tax changes have pushed several operators to cut UK investment.
Russia
West Siberia
One of the world's largest oil and gas producing regions.
Advantages
- Vast reserves and production
Risks
- Sanctions and Western exits after 2022
- Cut off from much Western capital and technology
For example
BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies all exited or wrote down Russian positions after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Kazakhstan
Tengiz & Kashagan
Giant Caspian fields.
Advantages
- Very large, long-life fields
Risks
- Landlocked, dependent on export routes through Russia
- Complex, costly projects
For example
Kashagan became famous as one of the most expensive and delayed projects in history.
Asia-Pacific
Australia
North West Shelf & Gippsland
A top global LNG exporter.
Advantages
- Stable and resource-rich
- Close to Asian demand
Risks
- High cost
- Domestic gas and policy debates
For example
Projects like Gorgon made Australia a global LNG leader.
China
Sichuan & Ordos
The world's biggest energy importer, with growing domestic shale gas.
Advantages
- Enormous domestic demand
- State backing for production
Risks
- Harder shale geology than the U.S.
- Dominated by state companies
For example
PetroChina and Sinopec are pushing Sichuan shale gas to cut import reliance.