Which countries have the largest natural gas reserves in the world? The ranking updated to 2025.
Which countries have the largest gas reserves in the world? Answering this question is crucial, considering that fuel is a fundamental raw material for the economy of states and a powerful driver of geopolitical dynamics.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has demonstrated this: by limiting purchases of Russian gas to a minimum in retaliation for Putin’s aggression, Europe found itself in the midst of an energy crisis, with skyrocketing prices.
It’s no coincidence that Russia plays the absolute leading role in this special ranking: as of 2025, it is the nation with the largest gas reserves in the world.
Which other countries can boast possession of such a treasure, of such economic and political value? The list of the 10 states with the largest fuel reserves includes strategic players in the global power landscape: from Iran and Qatar to the USA and China.
The 10 countries with the most natural gas reserves in the world revealed in the ranking updated to 2025.
The ranking of the 10 countries with the most gas in the world
Thanks to recent data published by Oil & Gas Journal via the US Energy Information Administration and updates from Global Firepower, it is possible to cross-reference the numbers and draw up the ranking of the top 10 countries globally by quantity of gas reserves, updated to 2025.
Here is the list, with the estimated quantity of fuel in billions of cubic meters:
- 1. Russia: 47,805;
- 2. Iran: 33,987;
- 3. Qatar: 23,861;
- 4. United States: 13,402;
- 5. Turkmenistan: 11,327;
- 6. Saudi Arabia: 9,423;
- 7. China: 6,654;
- 8. Nigeria: 5,761;
- 9. Venezuela: 5,674;
- 10. Algeria: 4,504.
The ranking takes into account proven natural gas reserves, that is, commercially available and, therefore, theoretically recoverable.
Natural gas has a variety of uses and has become a major player on the international political scene since the war in Ukraine.
It is primarily transported in gaseous form via pipelines, but can be shipped via tankers once liquefied. Proven reserves are a measure used to establish the volumes of exploitable resources. These are linked to known reservoirs and estimated through exploratory drilling. Since 1960, global proven natural gas reserves have increased more than tenfold, reaching a new peak of 206 trillion cubic meters in 2023. Of these, the majority are located in the Middle East.
The United States is the world’s largest natural gas producer, despite its proven reserves being only a third of Russia’s. In 2023, the US extracted nearly one trillion cubic meters of natural gas. This compares with Russia’s production volume of approximately 580 billion cubic meters.
In terms of reserves, Russia alone accounts for nearly 20% of the world’s total.
Which countries produce the most gas
The ranking of countries with the largest gas production differs from that of countries with the most reserves.
As can be seen in the chart prepared by Global Firepower, the 5 powers that dominate the production sector do not perfectly overlap with the top five in terms of natural gas reserves:
It is noteworthy that the United States confirmed its position as the world’s largest natural gas producer in the year under review. With production of approximately 1029 billion cubic meters that year, US natural gas production accounted for 44.3% of global production.
With Russia in second place, the two nations are by far the largest contributors to natural gas production on the planet. Iran, China, and Canada are also important players in the sector.
Thanks to recent advances in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technology and horizontal drilling, the development of shale gas sources in the United States has become economically feasible. This has also offset declines in production from conventional natural gas sources.
The USA also emerged as the world’s leading natural gas exporter in 2024. Russia was the second-largest natural gas exporter globally, followed by Qatar and Norway.
Finally, it is crucial to highlight LNG export capacity, given that liquefied natural gas is changing the energy dynamic, including for Italy, which is increasingly purchasing it.
As of September 2024, according to Statista, US liquefied natural gas export terminals had a combined capacity of 92.9 million metric tons per year, the largest in the world.
In 2024, the United States was the country with the largest operational LNG export capacity globally, followed by Australia. The US also leads the way as the country with the largest developing LNG export capacity.
Original article published on Money.it Italy. Original title: La classifica dei Paesi più ricchi al mondo per riserve di gas naturale
