Pop quiz: US oil reserves

[RandomGuy]

Interesting bit from Marketplace money report.

Go here for the answer, hopefully you guessed before looking.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/d...-oil-reserves/

[TeyshaBlue]

Ha. I guessed right. Go figure.

[ChumpDumper]

Marketplace?

I bet those weren't black people talking.

[coyotes_geek]

Got it right.

[word]

2% is correct HOWEVER, there is a flaw to reported reserves of OPEC nations. The OPEC nations are allowed, by agreement...amongst themselves of course....to produce based on their RESERVES. So, it is in their interests to publish a high reserve. Moot since they break this rule all the frickin' time. The world is a capitalist system, by default.

[Wild Cobra]

I guess they mean continental only.

[ChumpDumper]

I guess they mean continental only.

Why do you guess that?

[RandomGuy]

Why do you guess that?

Two words:

Confirmation bias.

"drill here, drill now" "if we just drilled offshore to poke the eyes of those damn irrational environmentalists, all our problems would be solved" subconscious thinking affecting logical and factual thinking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves

The answer is closer to 1.6% if one devides 21 by 1243 from the table halfway down.

While not explicitly stated, it would seem that offshore amounts are included.

[RandomGuy]

2% is correct HOWEVER, there is a flaw to reported reserves of OPEC nations. The OPEC nations are allowed, by agreement...amongst themselves of course....to produce based on their RESERVES. So, it is in their interests to publish a high reserve. Moot since they break this rule all the frickin' time. The world is a capitalist system, by default.

That is indeed a problem.

54

That is the current estimated lifespan in years of the proven reserves listed on the table in wiki for the top 17 countries.

If, as you say, the larger OPEC countries have inflated their data, as is almost certain, what would that imply about how long the current reserves REALLY are going to last?