Which countries have the largest oil reserves? This is the top 3 and you would never guess which is the “richest” country of all.
When you think of oil, the so-called black gold, it is clear that what you always think of are the Middle Eastern Countries. And in fact, among the three countries with the largest oil reserves on the planet, there is one of the largest representatives of the Middle Eastern bloc. But it is located in second position crushed between two unsuspected realities.
Where are the world’s largest oil reserves located?
Oil has transformed the world economy. Since it was discovered and used massively as fuel, it has indeed given a huge push to the automotive industry and beyond. When gasoline-powered cars first began to circulate, it seemed that this black, slightly sticky liquid would last forever. Now we know that this is not the case. And in addition to being a non-renewable resource, oil is also a source of enormous pollution.
And in addition to the awareness that oil is a resource that we will have to learn to do without, there are also a whole series of clichés. The first concerns those countries that have built their entire economy on black gold. In fact, we think it’s something found primarily in the Middle East. And in part it is like this. But going to look at the classification of the countries with the most important oil reserves, it turns out that Saudi Arabia it’s not at the top of the list. One of the countries with the most oil available is not even on our continent. We need to look across the ocean.
The American continent is a dark continent
In the top 3 of the countries with the largest oil reserves, in third place is the Canada. This immense country, bounded to the south by the United States and to the north by the freezing Arctic Circle, is a major producer and exporter of crude oil. The networks of oil pipelines that connect the fields and refineries to the United States are very dense and very busy. In second place, as we were saying, is Saudi Arabia which has made oil the founding nucleus of its contemporary economy.
Ma in first place there is not another Gulf country nor any small emirate. At the top of the ranking we find the Venezuela. Until Seventies Venezuela has managed to channel and exploit the very rich oil deposits of its subsoil. Now those reserves are still there and they would still be able to push the country’s economy. But, paradoxically, despite the presence of these immense deposits, precisely the related industry to oil has completely collapsed. The cause, according to experts, is to be found in the policies of the Maduro government. The case of Venezuela is emblematic of how resources alone cannot keep an economy afloat.
