In this analysis, I examined the relation between crude-oil production and crude-oil reserves in the world and in the United States. The variable of interest was the amount of crude oil produced as a percentage of proved reserves of crude oil. (This variable is inversely related to the reserves-to-production ratio.) The years examined were 1987 through 2017 (in five-year increments). The raw data for this study were proved reserves of crude oil (obtained from Oak Ridge National Laboratory ), and annual crude-oil production (calculated from the information in the same source). The results are shown in the table below. Let’s first consider the recent changes in the two underlying variables. From 1987 to 2017, proved reserves of crude oil increased by 136% in the world, compared with an increase of 24% in the United States. Analogously, during the same period, production of crude oil increased by 43% in the […]