Oil will stop being plentiful enough to burn
for fuel in the next 50 to 100 years. Coal, on the other hand, has a much
longer life, but its distribution and mining rate varies. If you take the long
view, the country in the catbird seat right now is Russia. At their current
rate of production, their reserves will last 440 years. The USA, on the other
hand, has larger reserves, but are only projected to last 270 years.
Oil reserves in Russia will last to the end of
oil’s dominance globally.
At current production rates, US coal reserves
will equal Russian reserves in 164 years. Everyone else will be out of coal
except Kazakhstan and Ukraine. China, which burns half the world’s coal, will
exhaust its supply in less than 30 years.
Russia already has its eyes on taking the
Ukraine and its 560 years of coal reserves. Kazakhstan is another bordering
country with a Russian minority. It is about the size of India, with a total
population that would fit into one of India’s major metropolitan cities, and
has 288 years of coal reserves. It is rich in other minerals including oil and
gas and is a sitting duck for Russian takeover. If combined with those two
satellites’ reserves, Russian reserves would exceed those of the US in less
than 65 years while also outlasting the States in oil reserves.
Now if Russia can figure
out a way to induce the USA to start mining and burning more coal and slow down
on alternate energy development, Russia’s dominance in energy will come much
sooner than a century from now.
Country
|
Annual Production
|
Coal Reserves
|
Years Left
|
China
|
3874
|
114,500
|
30
|
United
States
|
907
|
246,643
|
272
|
Australia
|
644
|
78,500
|
122
|
India
|
538
|
92,445
|
172
|
Indonesia
|
458
|
4,968
|
11
|
Russia
|
358
|
157,010
|
439
|
South
Africa
|
261
|
48,750
|
187
|
Germany
|
186
|
6,739
|
36
|
Poland
|
137
|
14,000
|
102
|
Kazakhstan
|
109
|
31,279
|
288
|
Colombia
|
89
|
6,611
|
75
|
Turkey
|
71
|
4,186
|
59
|
Canada
|
69
|
6,578
|
96
|
Ukraine
|
61
|
34,153
|
561
|
Greece
|
49
|
3,900
|
79
|
Czech
Republic
|
47
|
5,552
|
118
|