Production trends

Production trends

Coal output in 2005

A coal mine in Wyoming, United States. The United States has the world's largest coal reserves.
In 2006, China was the top producer of coal with 38% share followed by the USA and India, reports the British Geological Survey.
World coal reserves
At the end of 2006 the recoverable coal reserves amounted around 800 or 900 gigatons. The United States Energy Information Administration gives world reserves as 930 billion short tons[50] (equal to 843 gigatons) as of 2006. At the current extraction rate, this would last 132 years.[51] However, the rate of coal consumption is annually increasing at 2-3% per year and, setting the growth rate to 2.5% yields an exponential depletion time of 56 years (in 2065).[52] At the current global total energy consumption of 15.7 terawatts,[53] there is enough coal to provide the entire planet with all of its energy for 37 years (assuming 0% growth in demand and ignoring transportation's need for liquid fuels).[original research?]
The 930 billion short tons of recoverable coal reserves estimated by the Energy Information Administration are equal to about 4,116 BBOE (billion barrels of oil equivalent).[citation needed] The amount of coal burned during 2007 was estimated at 7.075 billion short tons, or 133.179 quadrillion BTU's.[54] In terms of heat content, this is about 57 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. By comparison in 2007, natural gas provided 51 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, while oil provided 85.8 million barrels per day.
British Petroleum, in its annual report 2007, estimated at 2006 end, there were 909,064 million tons of proven coal reserves worldwide, or 147 years reserves-to-production ratio. This figure only includes reserves classified as "proven"; exploration drilling programs by mining companies, particularly in under-explored areas, are continually providing new reserves. In many cases, companies are aware of coal deposits that have not been sufficiently drilled to qualify as "proven". However, some nations haven't updated their information and assume reserves remain at the same levels even with withdrawals.