Global energy consumption growth at new low in 2014 – BP

LONDON (ICIS)–Global energy consumption growth slowed markedly last year to the lowest level since the late 1990s, apart from around the time of the financial crisis in 2008, BP said on Wednesday.

Significant growth in shale oil and gas output put the US ahead of Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer and ahead of Russia as the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas, the energy giant said on release of its annual Statistical Review of World Energy.

Global primary energy demand growth slowed to 0.9% with Chinese growth at its lowest level since 1998 as its economy was rebalanced away from energy intensive sectors, BP said. China remained, however, the world’s largest market for energy.

Global oil consumption growth was slower last year at 0.8m bbl/day compared with 1.4m bbl/day in 2013. BP said that countries outside the OECD accounted for all oil consumption growth even though China consumption growth was below average.

Natural gas consumption growth was just 0.4%, well below the 10-year average of 2.4%, the review shows. EU natural gas consumption was down 11.6% mainly due, it is thought, to mild winter weather.

Global natural gas production growth was 1.6% in 2014, below the 10-year average of 2.5%. US natural gas production was up 6.1% while production in Russia was down 4.3% and in the Netherlands down 18.7%.

China’s slowdown and the rebalancing of its economy meant that its coal consumption growth stalled in 2014 compared to 2% in 2013 and an average of 6% over the past 10 years. The BP data are based on the energy content of coal. Global coal consumption growth was 0.4% compared with a 10-year average of 2.9%.

BP’s data show that China’s slower economic growth helped reduce the growth in global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 0.5%, to the lowest level since 1998 apart from at the time of the global financial crisis.