types of reserves

• proven reserves

  • Applied to deposits which have been discovered and are known to be economically extractable under current demand, price and technological conditions 
• conditional reserves

  • Deposits that have already been deposited, but are not economic to work with at prevailing price levels using currently available extraction and production technologies 
• hypothetical reserves

  • Those that are expected to be found in areas that have only been partially surveyed 
  • (eg. the arctic accounts for 13% of the world’s undiscovered oils and 30% of its undiscovered gas)
• speculative reserves

  • those that might be found in unexplored areas that are thought to have favourable conditions, but are not yet known