By Justin Scheck and Benoît Faucon
LONDON--Global oil consumption last year grew faster than oil
production, BP PLC said in its annual snapshot of world energy
statistics.
The BP Statistical Review of Energy, unveiled Monday morning at
a Moscow conference, found that world-wide, oil consumption grew
1.4%, or 1.4 million barrels a day, which is slightly above the
historical average. But oil production grew by just .6%, or 560,000
barrels a day.
The imbalance points to several big trends in the industry in
recent years. The shale boom has boosted production in the U.S., BP
said, largely offsetting disruptions elsewhere in the world. As a
result, said Christof Rühl, BP's chief economist, for the past
three years, oil-price "volatility is at its lowest level since the
early 1970s."
BP said that world-wide energy demand grew 2.3%, which is less
than the historical average, largely because of global economic
weakness. Energy consumption in emerging nations grew by 3.1%,
below the long-term average. But in the "mature economies" of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, consumption
grew by 1.2%--higher than average for those nations--because of
strong U.S. growth. The result, BP said, is that "the gap between
growth in the OECD and non-OECD narrowed to levels not seen since
2000."
BP also said that coal consumption grew by 3%, faster than any
other fossil fuel, and its share of global primary energy
consumption was 30.1%, the highest since 1970. Renewable energy
accounted for a record 2.7% of global consumption, BP said.
Write to Justin Scheck at justin.scheck@wsj.com and Benoît
Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com
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