Visualizing Natural Gas Reserves By Country
July 30, 2024

Visualizing Natural Gas Reserves By Country


Natural gas is used to generate electricity, heat homes and buildings, and power vehicles. It is also a raw material in various industrial processes.


In this graphic, creator Gopalakrishnan Ravichandran ranks natural gas reserves by country. He uses data from the bp Statistical Review, as of September 2023.


Russia Has the Biggest Reserves


Natural gas, coal, and oil have formed over millions of years as plant and animal remains mixed with sediment and undergo pressure and heat.


A natural gas reservoir is a subsurface area where natural gas is trapped within porous and permeable rock formations and confined by impermeable rock or water barriers.


Proven reserves represent the volume of natural gas that can be recovered under existing economic and operating conditions. These reserves can increase when new, successful exploratory wells are drilled.


Russia has the biggest reserves, with 37.4 trillion cubic meters or around 20% of the global total. Iran, in second, has 17% of the total reserves, followed by Qatar with 13%.

Country Reserve (tcm) Percentage
🇷🇺 Russian Federation 37.4 19.9%
🇮🇷 Iran 32.1 17.1%
🇶🇦 Qatar 24.7 13.1%
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan 13.6 7.2%
🇺🇸 US 12.6 6.7%
🇨🇳 China 8.4 4.5%
🇻🇪 Venezuela 6.3 3.3%
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 6.0 3.2%
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates 5.9 3.1%
🇳🇬 Nigeria 5.5 2.9%
🇮🇶 Iraq 3.5 1.9%
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan 2.5 1.3%
🇨🇦 Canada 2.4 1.3%
🇦🇺 Australia 2.4 1.3%
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan 2.3 1.2%
🇩🇿 Algeria 2.3 1.2%
🇪🇬 Egypt 2.1 1.1%
Others 18.1 9.6%
TOTAL 188.1 100.0%

Asia dominates reserves by region, with six countries among the top 10. Meanwhile, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America each have one representative.


Despite being the 5th in proven reserves, the U.S. is the biggest natural gas producer, with 23% of the global share. Russia comes second (17.4%), with Iran in 3rd place (6.4%).


In addition, the U.S. is also the leading gas exporter, exporting 82.7 billion cubic meters of gas via pipelines in 2022 and 104.3 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Russia was the second-largest natural gas exporter globally, followed by Qatar and Norway.


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November 18, 2025
TORONTO, Nov. 18, 2025 - VVC Exploration Corporation, dba VVC Resources ("VVC" or the "Company") (TSX-V: VVC; OTC: VVCVF) announces that, after a project review, it has strategically restructured its mining projects in Mexico. This project review encompassed multiple considerations, including ongoing maintenance costs, permitting authorizations, political climate, safety, upside potential and financeability of each project and probability of achieving the projects potential. After this review, the Company has decided to: Exit the Gloria Copper Project located near Samalayuca, State of Chihuahua, Mexico. This long-standing project of the Company is expensive to maintain and is in an area that has become more politically volatile with uncertain safety. The geological potential of the project is not in question, but the ability to achieve that potential is unclear. Focus all mining exploration activity on the Cumeral Gold Project. Cumeral is the Company’s highly prospective gold project in north central Sonora Mexico. This project, while not as advanced as the Gloria Copper Project, has a huge upside potential. It is in an area where there is strong local support for the project and a higher likelihood of permitting and implementation success. The Cumeral Gold Project is a 1,665-hectare property in northern Sonora near Imuris which exhibits quartz-vein–hosted gold in a detachment-fault/orogenic setting with a documented NNW–SSE mineralized trend of ~4 km. Historical work reported that ~36% of 407 grab/chip samples assayed 0.1–10 g/t Au; soil surveys outlined additional anomalies (47 samples >0.020 ppm Au); and air-track drilling intersected broad, near-surface intervals of 0.21–0.44 g/t Au over 6–26 m in key target areas. The Company will continue activities on the Cumeral Gold Project. Rationale and Next Steps The Company’s decision reflects consideration of cost discipline, safety and risk management. The exit from the Gloria Copper Project will reduce future cash outlays for care, maintenance, and permitting at amid uncertainty over permit viability and broader political conditions in Chihuahua State. Capital and management resources will be reallocated to the Cumeral Gold Project exploration, and to development of the Company’s helium/natural gas project in the Central Kansas Uplift (CKU) Project where existing infrastructure and near-term activities offer a clearer path to execution. « There are opportunity costs in every project, » said Jim Culver, CEO. « Exiting the Gloria Copper Project will allow the Company to concentrate resources on projects with an obvious direct and timely route to advancing development while maintaining discipline on risk and spending. » About VVC Resources VVC engages in the exploration, development, and management of natural resources - specializing in scarce and increasingly valuable materials needed to meet the growing, high-tech demands of industries such as manufacturing, technology, medicine, space travel, and the expanding green economy. Our portfolio includes a diverse set of multi-asset high-growth projects, comprising: Helium & industrial gas production in western U.S.; Gold & associated metals operations in northern Mexico; and Strategic investments in carbon sequestration and other green energy technologies. VVC is a Canada-based, publicly-traded company on the TSXV (TSX-V:VVC). To learn more, visit our website at: www.vvcresources.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. 
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October 9, 2025
TORONTO, Oct. 09, 2025 - VVC Exploration Corporation, dba VVC Resources ("VVC" or the "Company") (TSX-V: VVC; OTC: VVCVF) announces that Plateau Helium Corporation ("PHC"), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, has completed the purchase of the Ithaca 1-17 well together with approximately five miles of associated pipeline located in Rush county, Kansas in a prolific helium, gas and oil area known as the Central Kansas Uplift (CKU). The acquisition was initiated in April 2025 and PHC took possession in July 2025. As previously disclosed in our May 30, June 26 and September 2025 MD&As, PHC has a 50% operating interest in the well. The CKU Project targets helium-rich natural gas within multiple stacked reservoirs in Rush and Pawnee Counties, Kansas, where PHC has now assembled a meaningful lease position, acquired one producing property (Ithaca 1-17) and associated gas gathering system, and identified multiple development well locations. The acquisition of an existing gas gathering system serves to lower initial development cost while expediting the time needed to commence gas/helium sales and provide cashflow. « Building on a producing asset while securing midstream capacity is a practical way to de-risk our development program in the CKU, » said Bill Kerrigan, President of VVC and PHC. « The Ithaca 1-17 well and pipeline give us a backbone to bring wells online more efficiently. » About VVC Resources VVC engages in the exploration, development, and management of natural resources - specializing in scarce and increasingly valuable materials needed to meet the growing, high-tech demands of industries such as manufacturing, technology, medicine, space travel, and the expanding green economy. Our portfolio includes a diverse set of multi-asset, high-growth projects, comprising: Helium & industrial gas production in western U.S.; Gold & associated metals operations in northern Mexico; and Strategic investments in carbon sequestration and other green energy technologies. VVC is a Canada-based, publicly-traded company on the TSXV (TSX-V:VVC). To learn more, visit our website at: www.vvcresources.com.  Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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