World Energy Consumption Up 4.3% In 2004 - Biggest Single Year Rise Ever

[hatrack]

"World energy consumption surged 4.3 per cent last year, the biggest percentage rise since 1984 and the largest volume increase ever, according to new figures from BP, the oil company. Burning fossil fuels at a faster rate also resulted in the largest absolute increase in carbon emissions, adding to the stock of “greenhouse gases” blamed for global warming.

BP's annual statistical review, released on Tuesday, showed that the fast-growing economies of Asia were responsible for a large portion of the rise. China's fuel consumption rose by 15.1 per cent and India's by 7.2 per cent.

Global consumption of oil also rose by 3.4 per cent, or 2.5m barrels a day, the biggest increase since 1978. Some 900,000 b/d of that increase in demand came from China, but BP said the demand also rose strongly across virtually every region. “Overall, the growth of global oil demand has outstripped oil production capacity growth, reducing the level of spare capacity,” said David Allen, group managing director of BP. “That has been the fundamental cause of the oil price increases we've seen over the last two years.”

The average oil price in 2004 was $38 a barrel, BP said, up from $29 a barrel in 2003 and the highest ever figure expressed in “money-of-the-day”. The oil price has averaged about $49 a barrel so far this year. At the same time, Britain and Australia suffered large falls in oil production they pumped 10 per cent and 13.9 per cent less respectively."

EDIT

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6af9ba8a-dd0c-11d9-b590-00000e2511c8.html

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Uh-oh.

[Terry in Austin]

2. But there's plenty left, says BP

"Even so, BP said there was no shortage of available energy resources. At present production rates and without taking into account future discoveries, the world has enough oil to last 40 years and enough natural gas to last 60 years, according to BP."

The ol' straight-line extrapolation, not taking into account yearly increases in demand. And this in an article on the very subject of demand increase.

Are people that desperate to be reassured? Sheesh!

[BlueEyedSon]

3. Oil will last for a loooong time, but the peak of production will be

within 5 years

[thegreatwildebeest]

4. I don't think...

I don't think they're being duplicitous per se. They just have no realistic expectation of what the increased demand is going to be, and more than likely within that time frame they will pump more and more money into figuring out how to max out oil in fields and converting other oil (shoal and heavy). I can't remember the name of the company, but there is one whose sole job is to take over fields once abandoned and get the maximum they can out of it. And a significant chunk of money in government grants goes towards better exploiting current oil supplies. The industry (and the government consequently) are going to try and ride the beast as far as it can go.

[hatrack]

5. Sorry - my headline was inaccurate

Should have read "Biggest In 20+ Years" or something like that.

Duh.