MOQ | 10000 100000 |
Port | RUSSIAN PORT, ROTTERDAM |
Packaging | MATRIC TONS |
Here's how much petroleum different regions used back in
1980, when the whole world burned about 63.1 million barrels
a day of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, heating oil and
other products:
World Petroleum Consumption By Region in 1980 (See Left)
The picture looks very different in 2012 — a year in which
the world burned a record high 88.9 million barrels of
petroleum per day:
World Petroleum Consumption By Region in 2012 (See Left)
Note that petroleum consumption in Europe has actually
declined over the decades, a trend the EIA attributes to the
continent's energy-efficiency policies, as well as the euro
zone's recent economic stagnation. The countries that were
part of the Soviet Union also saw a sharp downtick after the
collapse of communism.
Meanwhile, North America's fuel use has grown only modestly
since 1980 and has actually declined in recent years, due to
stricter fuel-economy standards. Here's EIA: "Motor gasoline
consumption, which makes up almost half of total U.S. liquids
fuel consumption, fell by 290,000 bbl/d between 2010 and 2012
as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards led to
improvements in vehicle fuel economy that outpaced highway
travel growth."
But the real story, of course, has been in Asia, which has
nearly tripled its fuel consumption since 1980, driven
largely by stunning growth in China and India. "If China's
use of petroleum continues to grow as projected," EIA notes,
"it is expected to replace the United States as the world's
largest net oil importer this fall." (The rapid growth in
Middle East consumption, where burning oil for electricity is
common, is another important and little-noticed story.)
The world is now using a record amount of oil even though
Europe and the United States are paring back. And even as
companies are finding new sources of crude in the deep ocean,
tar sands and shale rock, they're struggling to keep up and
global crude prices are much, much higher than they were
during the 1980s and 1990s.