7) Mexico

Golden Eagle

Technically recoverable shale oil: 13 billion barrels
Prime prospect locations: Jurassic Pimienta formation, Eagle Ford formation
Current oil production (bpd): 2.94 million
Current gas production (tcf): 1.76

The Central American nation is a major non-OPEC oil producer and among the largest sources of U.S. oil imports. The country’s supergiant Cantarell field peaked in 2004 at 2.14 million barrels per day and since that Mexico's oil production has declined substantially.

The Eagle Ford shale play which has been heavily exploited by US energy companies in West Texas runs into sovereign Mexican territory. Along with the Pimienta formation, Eagle Ford is ripe for the picking, but Mexican state oil company PEMEX is in no hurry to exploit this unconventional bonanza, as it continues to expand its investments in the Gulf of Mexico.

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