According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, world primary energy consumption grew by 2.5% in 2011 roughly in line with the 10 year average. All of the net growth took place in emerging economies, with China alone accounting for 71% of global energy consumption growth.
OECD consumption declined, led by a sharp decline in Japan in volumetric terms, the world's largest decline Energy price developments were mixed. Oil prices for the year exceeded USD 100 for the first time ever and inflation adjusted prices were the second highest on record, behind only 1864.
The BP report said natural gas prices in Europe and Asia including spot markets and those indexed to oil increased broadly in line with oil prices, although movements within the year varied widely.
The report said that consumption in OECD countries fell by 0.8% the third decline in the past 4 years. Non OECD consumption grew by 5.3% in line with the 10 year average. Global consumption growth decelerated in 2011 for all fuels as did total energy consumption for all regions. Oil remains the world's leading fuel, at 33.1% of global energy consumption but oil continued to lose market share for the twelfth consecutive year and its current market share is the lowest in our data set which begins in 1965.
Dated Brent averaged USD 111.26 per barrel in 2011 an increase of 40% from the 2010 level. The loss of Libyan supplies early in the year, combined with smaller disruptions in a number of other countries, pushed prices sharply higher despite a large increase in production among other OPEC members following the Libyan outages and a release of strategic stocks from International Energy Agency member countries.
Global oil consumption grew by a below average 0.6 million barrels per day or 0.7% to reach 88 million barrels per day. This was once again the weakest global growth rate among fossil fuels. OECD consumption declined by 1.2% the fifth decrease in the past 6 years, reaching the lowest level since 1995. Outside the OECD, consumption grew by 1.2 million barrels per day or 2.8%. Despite strong oil prices, oil consumption growth was below average in producing regions of the Middle East and Africa due to regional unrest.
China again recorded the largest increment to global consumption growth although the growth rate was below the 10 year average. Middle distillates were again the fastest growing refined product category by volume for the seventh time in the past 10 years.
Global refinery crude runs increased by a below average 375,000 barrels per day or 0.5%. Non OECD countries accounted for all the net increase, rising by 685,000 barrels per day. While OECD throughput declined by 310,000 barrels per day, US throughput increased and the US became a net exporter of refined products for the first time on record. Global refinery capacity utilization fell to 81.2% as global refining capacity increased by 1.4 million barrels per day outpacing growth in throughputs for the fifth time in 6 years.
World natural gas consumption grew by 2.2%. Consumption growth was below average in all regions except North America, where low prices drove robust growth. Outside North America, the largest volumetric gains in consumption were in China, Saudi Arabia and Japan. These increases were partly offset by the largest decline on record in EU gas consumption, driven by a weak economy, high gas prices, warm weather and continued growth in renewable power generation.
Global natural gas production grew by 3.1%. The US recorded the largest volumetric increase despite lower gas prices and remained the world's largest producer. Output also grew rapidly in Qatar, Russia and Turkmenistan more than offsetting declines in Libya and the UK. As was the case for consumption, the EU recorded the largest decline in gas production on record due to a combination of mature fields, maintenance and weak regional consumption.
Source - Arab News
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