Riyadh – Mubasher: The London-based oil giant BP Plc has raised estimates for Saudi Arabia’s crude oil reserves by 12%, according to the company’s benchmark 2019 Statistical Review of World Energy.

Proved oil reserves of the kingdom have been estimated at 297.7 billion barrels at the end of 2018 from 266.2 billion in 2017, Reuters reported, citing BP.

This raise came after Saudi Arabia began to separately report oil, gas, and natural gas liquid (NGL) reserves, BP chief economist Spencer Dale told reporters.

Dale noted that the GCC state used to include NGL in gas reserves, resulting in a decline in reserves to 208.1 trillion cubic feet from 283.8 trillion cubic feet in 2017.

Moreover, BP revealed that oil reserves for the US, the world’s top producer in 2018, has been also revised to 61.2 billion barrels last year, up by 22% from 50 billion barrels at the end of 2017.

However, global reserves have seen a marginal change at 1,729.7 billion barrels, equivalent to almost 50 years of the world’s current demand.