Petra Energy is involved in the full cycle of Crude Oil Trading and has built strong and
long term relationships with producing states which enables Petra to purchase various
different Crude types to be used as feedstock supply to refineries for processing together
with trading the surplus on the physical market.
The Crude Oil Industry has become extremely challenging during the recent economic era. The impact that Oil prices have on every market globally has been clearly demonstrated over the past few years and therefore trading oil based commodities can no longer be based on speculated forecasts but by having in place experienced teams who have the knowledge and expertise to plan, manage and identify current and future risks, opportunities, strengths and weaknesses, and this is what Petra Energy has developed over the years.
Petra has experience in dealing with various crudes from Africa, South America, Russia and the Middle East. Petra has recently established offices in India and would be looking to enter into the supply of Crude Oil to the countries refineries.
Crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons - from almost solid to gaseous. These were
produced when tiny plants and animals decayed under layers of sand and mud millions of
years ago. Crude oil has to be changed before it can be used for anything. This happens in
an oil refinery. Crude oil doesn't always look the same – it depends where it comes from.
Sometimes it is almost colorless, or it can be thick and black. But crude oil usually looks
like thin, brown treacle
It's not just the appearance of crude oil that changes. Crudes from different sources have different make-ups. Some may have more of the valuable lighter hydrocarbons and some may have more of the heavier hydrocarbons. The compositions of different crudes are measured and published in assays. The refinery uses the information in these assays to decide which crudes it will buy to make the products that its customers need at any given time.
When crude oil comes out of a well (especially an undersea well), the crude oil is often mixed with gases, water and sand. It forms an emulsion with the water that looks a bit like caramel. The sand is suspended in the emulsion, adding to the caramel effect. The sand will settle out and the water is removed using de-emulsifying agents.
They have to be separated from the crude oil before it can be processed ready for transportation by tanker or pipeline. The dissolved gases have to be removed at the well. Otherwise, they might come out of solution and cause a build up of pressure in a pipe or a tanker. The crude oil also contains sulphur. This has to be removed from any fractions that are going to be burnt because it forms sulphur dioxide which contributes to acid rain. So any fractions that go into fuels pass through a hydrofiner to remove the sulphur.
Proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia are the second largest claimed in the world, estimated to be 267 billion barrels including 2.5 billion barrels in the Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone. These reserves were the largest in the world until Venezuela announced they had increased their proven reserves to 297 billion barrels in January 2011. The Saudi reserves are about one-fifth of the world’s total conventional oil reserves.
| Country | Reserves (bbl) | Share of World % | ||
| 1 |  | Saudi Arabia | 264,100,000,000 | 19.78% |
| 2 |  | Canada | 178,100,000,000 | 13.21% |
| 3 |  | Iran | 150,310,000,000 | 11.10% |
| 4 |  | Iraq | 143,100,000,000 | 10.60% |
| 5 |  | Kuwait | 101,500,000,000 | 8.71% |
| 6 |  | Venezuela | 98,590,000,000 | 7.37% |
| 7 |  | United Arab Emirates | 97,800,000,000 | 7.25% |
| 8 |  | Rissia | 79,000,000,000 | 4.45% |
| 9 |  | Libya | 46,000,000,000 | 3.24% |
| 10 |  | Nigeria | 36,220,000,000 | 2.69% |
| 11 |  | Kazakhstan | 30,000,000,000 | 2.22% |
| 12 |  | Qatar | 27,190,000,000 | 1.31% |
| 13 |  | United States | 21,320,000,000 | 1.58% |
| 14 |  | China | 15,700,000,000 | 1.19% |
| 15 |  | Algeria | 15,150,000,000 | 0.90% |
| 16 |  | Angola | 13,500,000,000 | 0.67% |
| 17 |  | Mexico | 13,350,000,000 | 1.29% |
| 18 |  | Brazil | 13,350,000,000 | 0.94% |
| 19 |  | Azerbaijan | 7,000,000,000 | 0.52% |
| 20 |  | Sudan | 6,800,000,000 | 0.37% |
| 21 |  | Norway | 6,680,000,000 | 0.50% |
| 22 |  | India | 5,625,000,000 | 0.42% |
| 23 |  | European Union | 5,504,000,000 | 0.42% |
| 24 |  | Oman | 4,978,000,000 | 0.41% |
| 25 |  | Vietnam | 4,700,000,000 | 0.40% |
| 26 |  | Egypt | 14,400,000,000 | 0.27% |
| 27 |  | Indonesia | 3,850,000,000 | 0.30% |
| 28 |  | Ecuador | 3,640,000,000 | 0.35% |
| 29 |  | United Kingdom | 3,410,000,000 | 0.25% |
| 30 |  | Yemen | 3,300,000,000 | 0.22% |
| 31 |  | Malaysia | 3,000,000,000 | 0.30% |
| 32 |  | Argentina | 2,286,000,000 | 0.19% |
| 33 |  | Syria | 2,500,000,000 | 0.19% |
| 34 |  | Gabon | 2,000,000,000 | 0.15% |
| 35 |  | Republic of the Congo | 1,600,000,000 | 0.12% |
| 36 |  | Australia | 1,500,000,000 | 0.11% |
| 37 |  | Chad | 1,500,000,000 | 0.11% |
| 38 |  | Colombia | 1,355,000,000 | 0.10% |
| 39 |  | Brunei | 1,100,000,000 | 0.08% |
| 40 |  | Equatorial Guinea | 1,100,000,000 | 0.08% |
| 41 |  | Denmark | 1,060,000,000 | 0.08% |
| 42 |  | Trinidad and Tobago | 728,300,000 | 0.05% |
| 43 |  | Romania | 600,000,000 | 0.04% |
| 44 |  | Turkmenistan | 600,000,000 | 0.04% |
| 45 |  | Uzbekistan | 594,000,000 | 0.04% |
| 46 |  | Timor-Leste | 553,800,000 | 0.04% |
| 47 |  | Bolivia | 465,000,000 | 0.03% |
| 48 |  | Thailand | 441,000,000 | 0.03% |
| 49 |  | Tunisia | 425,000,000 | 0.03% |
| 50 |  | Peru | 415,800,000 | 0.03% |
| 51 |  | Italy | 406,500,000 | 0.03% |
| 52 |  | Ukraine | 395,000,000 | 0.03% |
| 53 |  | Pakistan | 339,200,000 | 0.03% |
| 54 |  | Turkey | 300,000,000 | 0.02% |
| 55 |  | Germany | 276,000,000 | 0.02% |
| 56 |  | Cameroon | 200,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 57 |  | Albania | 199,100,000 | 0.01% |
| 58 |  | Belarus | 198,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 59 |  | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 180,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 60 |  | Chile | 150,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 61 |  | Spain | 150,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 62 |  | Philippines | 138,500,000 | 0.01% |
| 63 |  | Bahrain | 124,600,000 | 0.01% |
| 64 |  | Cuba | 124,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 65 |  | France | 103,300,000 | 0.01% |
| 66 |  | Côte d’Ivoire | 100,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 67 |  | Mauritania | 100,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 68 |  | Netherlands | 100,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 69 |  | Poland | 96,380,000 | 0.01% |
| 70 |  | Papua New Guinea | 88,000,000 | 0.01% |
| 71 |  | Guatemala | 83,070,000 | 0.01% |
| 72 |  | Suriname | 79,600,000 | 0.01% |
| 73 |  | Croatia | 79,300,000 | 0.01% |
| 73 |  | Serbia | 77,500,000 | 0.01% |
| 74 |  | New Zealand | 60,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 75 |  | Austria | 50,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 76 |  | Burma | 50,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 77 |  | Japan | 44,120,000 | 0.00% |
| 78 |  | Kyrgyzstan | 40,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 79 |  | Georgia | 35,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 80 |  | Bangladesh | 28,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 81 |  | Hungary | 20,180,000 | 0.00% |
| 82 |  | Bulgaria | 15,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 83 |  | Czech Republic | 15,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 84 |  | South Africa | 15,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 85 |  | Ghana | 15,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 86 |  | Lithuania | 12,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 87 |  | Tajikistan | 12,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 88 |  | Greece | 10,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 89 |  | Slovakia | 9,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 90 |  | Benin | 8,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 91 |  | Belize | 6,700,000 | 0.00% |
| 92 |  | Taiwan | 2,380,000 | 0.00% |
| 93 |  | Barbados | 2,170,000 | 0.00% |
| 94 |  | Israel | 1,940,000 | 0.00% |
| 95 |  | Jordan | 1,000,000 | 0.00% |
| 96 |  | Morocco | 750,000 | 0.00% |
| 97 |  | Benin | 430,000 | 0.00% |
| Total | 1,348,528,420,000 | 100.00% |
