02: Natural gas
Natural gas is a plentiful source of energy and the greenest of the mainstream fossil fuels. It is portable, can be shipped as a liquid, and is cheap. It is likely to maintain or even grow as an energy source in the short term as the world moves away from other fossil fuels due to its cleaner-burning properties.
According to worldometers, there were 6,923 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves in the world per 2017. Russia held the largest natural gas reserves in the world at 1,688,228,000 million cubic feet, followed by Iran with 1,201,382,000 million, and Qatar at 871,585,000.
The world has so far consumed almost 2% of its natural gas reserves with a little over 50 years of natural gas left at the current consumption level of 132,290,211,000 cubic feet or 17,527 cubic feet of natural gas per capita. The US is leading in natural gas consumption with 27,243,858,000 cubic feet being consumed annually. Russia is second at 15,538,246,850 cubic feet, followed by China, whose yearly gas consumption amounts to 6,738,151,620 cubic feet.
The countries with the largest natural reserves are as follows:
