Global Oil
Comsumption
The industrialized countries are the largest consumers of oil but until
1998 had not been the most important growth markets for some years.
The developed economies use oil much more intensively than the
developing economies, and Canada
and the United States
stand almost alone in their consumption of oil per capita. For instance,
oil consumption in the United States
and Canada
equals almost 3 gallons per day per capita. (The difference is these
countries' transportation sectors, with their dependence on private vehicles to
travel relatively long distances.) Oil consumption in the rest of the OECD
(Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development) equals 1.4 gallons per
day per capita. The OECD is comprised of
AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM,
CANADA, CZECH REPUBLIC,
DENMARK,
FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY,
GREECE, HUNGARY, ICELAND,
IRELAND, ITALY, JAPAN,
KOREA,
LUXEMBOURG,
MEXICO, NETHERLANDS, NEW
ZEALAND, NORWAY,
POLAND, PORTUGAL, SLOVAK
REPUBLIC,
SPAIN,
SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TURKEY,
UNITED KINGDOM,
and UNITED STATES. Outside of the OECD, oil consumption equals 0.2 gallons per
day per capita.
Regionally, the largest consuming area remains North America (dominated
by the United States),
followed by Asia (with Japan the largest consumer),
Europe
(where consumption is more evenly spread among the nations), and then the other
regions
The United States
and Canada use oil more for
transportation than for heat and power, but the opposite pattern holds for most
of the rest of the world. As a result, global demand for oil is highest in the
Northern Hemisphere's cold months. There is a swing of 3-4 million barrels
per day (some 5 percent) between the 4th quarter of the year, when demand is
highest, to the 3rd quarter, when it is lowest. (The precise amount varies
from year-to-year, depending on weather, economic activity and other factors.)
While the 4th quarter is not the coldest in any region, estimated demand
calculations are swollen by the traditional stock building that occurs during
the period.
Demand for crude oil is derived from the demand for the finished and
intermediate products that can be made from it. In the short-term,
however, demand for crude oil may be mismatched with the underlying demand for
petroleum products. This misalignment occurs routinely as a result
of stock changes. This happens because the need to build stocks to meet seasonal
demand, for instance, or the desire to reduce stocks of crude oil for economic
reasons. In the longer term, blending non-petroleum additives into
petroleum products (such as ethanol or other oxygenating agents into gasoline)
can also reduce crude oil demand relative to demand for finished products.
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