Reserves-to-production life
Also called: R/P ratio, Reserves-to-production ratio, Number of years reserves will last · Topic: Environment and Sustainable Development · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 1 "Development"
Meaning
Reserves-to-production life tells you how long a non-renewable resource will last if we keep extracting it at today's pace.
R/P life = known reserves ÷ current annual output
The answer is a number of years. It is only a rough guide. New discoveries add to reserves, and output can rise or fall. Class 10 stresses that the stock is still fixed, so it will run out over time.
Example
Class 10 (Table 1.7) gives world crude-oil reserves in 2017 as 1,732 billion barrels, lasting 47 years. That implies world output of about 1,732 ÷ 47 ≈ 37 billion barrels a year. NCERT rounds this to "only 50 years more". The Middle East's 836 billion barrels would last 70 years. The USA's 69 billion barrels would last just 10.5 years, which is why low-reserve countries try to secure oil from abroad.
Don't confuse with
- Hotelling rule: this is about the best extraction path and how the net price should rise over time. It is not a count of years left.
Related concepts
- Environment
- Biotic and abiotic components
- Functions of the environment
- Renewable resources
- Non-renewable resources
- Hotelling rule
- Carrying capacity
- Absorptive capacity
- Environmental crisis
- Supply-demand reversal of environmental resources