The review found that global demand for primary energy grew by only 1%, significantly slower than the 10-year average.
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“This reflected continued weakness in the global economy and lower growth in Chinese energy consumption as the country shifts from an industrial to a service-driven economy”, it said.
India, Asia’s second biggest energy consumer since 2008, has overtaken Japan as the world’s third largest oil consuming country in 2015, supported by an 8.1 percent year-on-year increase in daily consumption to 4.159 million barrels, data released Wednesday by BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2016 showed. Dated Brent averaged US$52.39/bbl in 2015, a decline of $46.56/bbl from the 2014 level and the lowest annual average since 2004. This led to adjustments in the energy markets including boosting demand for oil which gained market share for the first time since 1999. This was a 2.3% increase year-over-year and a 3% rise month-over-month. Growth was above average in North America, Africa, and Asia Pacific. The U.S. (+1 million bpd) had the world’s largest annual growth increment and remained the world’s largest oil producer. European Union production fell sharply (-8%), with the Netherlands (-22.8%) recording the world’s largest decline. Elsewhere, production growth in Brazil (+180,000 bpd), Russian Federation (+140,000 bpd), the United Kingdom and Canada (+110,000 bpd each) was partly offset by declines in Mexico (-200,000 bpd), Yemen (-100,000 bpd) and elsewhere.
“As this edition of the Stats Review clearly demonstrates, the world of energy is again going through a period of profound change”.
A slump in crude prices over the past two years has made gasoline and diesel more affordable, spurring consumers to drive more.
“Global oil consumption grew 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd), or 1.9 per cent – almost double the recent historical average (+1 per cent) and significantly stronger than the increase of 1.1 million bpd seen in 2014”, it said. The gap in energy use between India and Japan widened further previous year, with the former consuming 700.5 MMtoe compared to 448.5 MMtoe for the East Asian nation.
Analysts with the World Bank downgraded the forecast for global economic growth for the year from 2.9 percent to 2.4 percent.
Crude oil prices recorded the largest annual decline on record in dollar terms, and the largest percentage decline since 1986.
Carbon dioxide emissions from energy consumption grew by 0.1 percent a year ago in their smallest advance since 2009 due to lower coal use and sluggish growth, BP said on Wednesday in its annual energy review.
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The world’s consumption of natural gas, a fuel that oil companies have been banking on for growth as countries try to move away from coal, increased 1.7% in 2015 from a year earlier. Emerging economies now account for 58.1% of global energy consumption, BP revealed.
