Washington, DC—World use of oil—the dominant fossil fuel—surged by 3.4 percent in 2004, to 82.4 million barrels per day. This represents the fastest rate of increase in 16 years, according to Vital Signs 2005, a Worldwatch Institute report published today.
China and the United States were the main engines driving fossil fuel markets in 2004, accounting between them for nearly half the increase in world oil demand. China’s consumption soared by 11 percent in 2004, cementing its position as the world’s number two user at 6.6 million barrels per day. (See charts for media use) Daily demand in the United States rose to 20.5 million barrels a day—nearly 25 percent of the world total.
A growing number of geologists question whether oil reserves are sufficient to keep up with rising global demand, and many experts project that annual production will fall short of consumption as early as the middle of the next decade. They argue that oil companies have not been finding as much oil as they have been extracting over the past three decades, and this gap has widened in recent years. Declining output in Russia and elsewhere, and limited spare capacity in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries, suggest that the era of relatively stable oil prices is at an end.
China and the United States were the main engines driving fossil fuel markets in 2004, accounting between them for nearly half the increase in world oil demand. China’s consumption soared by 11 percent in 2004, cementing its position as the world’s number two user at 6.6 million barrels per day. (See charts for media use) Daily demand in the United States rose to 20.5 million barrels a day—nearly 25 percent of the world total.
A growing number of geologists question whether oil reserves are sufficient to keep up with rising global demand, and many experts project that annual production will fall short of consumption as early as the middle of the next decade. They argue that oil companies have not been finding as much oil as they have been extracting over the past three decades, and this gap has widened in recent years. Declining output in Russia and elsewhere, and limited spare capacity in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries, suggest that the era of relatively stable oil prices is at an end.
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