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Page added on July 14, 2014
America’s Oil Consumption Is Rising, Not Falling, Outpacing China’s
U.S. oil demand reversed course in dramatic fashion in 2013, as the nation’s growth in crude consumption outpaced perennial leader China for the first time since 1999, according to oil company BP’s annual compendium of world energy statistics.
The U.S. increase follows two years of declines, and dampens hopes that the world’s largest oil guzzler was permanently reining in its appetite for crude. The nation’s oil use rose by 400,000 barrels per day to a daily draw of 18.9 million barrels; China’s oil consumption grew by 390,000 barrels a day, to 10.8 million barrels a day, according to the BP figures released last month.
“Are these data points a harbinger of things to come or just an aberration?” asked Christof Rühl, group chief economist at BP. “Too early to tell is the appropriate response.”
Rühl said the rise in U.S. oil demand stemmed from industrial users of petrochemicals and other oil byproducts, a trend triggered more by a flood of cheap domestic oil supplies than by overall economic growth.
Motorists also played a role in the rise, however. In 2013, the nation’s demand for gasoline rose for the first time since 2007, ticking up to 8.8 million barrels per day—despite government efforts to cut gasoline use by mixing more ethanol into every gallon of the fuel, data from the Energy Information Administration show.
While the 2013 figures are well below the nation’s peak oil and gasoline demand levels, the return to higher consumption is discouraging for those looking for lower U.S. oil use and a reduction in carbon emissions.
Burning petroleum is a top contributor to climate change in the United States and globally, and without a long-term effort to rein in emissions from the oil sector, it could be impossible to keep warming under the 2-degrees Celsius danger threshold, scientists and policy experts have long warned.
The same upward trend can be seen in 2014. Oil and petroleum products use through April is 1 percent higher than last year, according to EIA. In addition, California—which by itself accounts for 11 percent of the nation’s gasoline use—has had nine straight months of higher year-over-year gasoline consumption, according to data from the state board of equalization data.
14 Comments on "America’s Oil Consumption Is Rising, Not Falling, Outpacing China’s"
rollin on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 8:14 am
Fuels will be used to their availability if offered at a reasonable price. Taking inflation into account, gasoline and diesel are only mildly more expensive than they were 50 years ago.
I think other price factors are limiting use of fuels.
Pops on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 9:11 am
In related news, credit card debt increased at a seasonally adjusted yearly average of 2% – up 1.7 B in May.
JuanP on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 10:40 am
I am so glad we had this last oil boom at a personal level. This extra 10 years we bought with shale oil since 2005 were fundamental to my wife and me to prepare and enjoy. I feel terrible about the price younger and future generations will have to pay for it, though.
Northwest Resident on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 10:44 am
JuanP — Well said. Same here.
Nony on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 11:14 am
Laissez les bon temps roller! 😉
synapsid on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 6:35 pm
Do the figures in the second paragraph make sense?
If you back up to the year before’s usage I don’t see how the US could have been using less than China was. Somebody help?
JuanP on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 6:41 pm
Synapsid, the article is comparing the increases in consumption, not the consumption totals. The USA’s consumption increased more in the USA than anywhere else in the world, an increase of 400,000 bpd in oil consumption. China earned a second place with an increase in oil consumption over the same period of 390,000 bpd.
Northwest Resident on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 6:52 pm
Makati1 — Here is an article that claims that 93 percent of Filipinos are concerned about military conflict with China. In fact, it looks like just about everybody in Asia is concerned about military conflict with China — except for you I am guessing.
“China’s neighbors are increasingly anxious that Beijing’s maritime disputes with countries like Vietnam and the Philippines will lead to military conflict, a US research group said in findings released Monday.
Even in China itself, polling showed that 62 percent of the public worried that territorial disputes between China and its neighbors could lead to an armed conflict, according to a broad study conducted in 44 countries by the Pew Research Center.
“This year in all 11 Asian nations polled, roughly half or more say they are concerned that territorial disputes between China and its neighbors will lead to a military conflict,” the study found.
At 93 percent, Filipinos were most concerned, followed by the Japanese at 85 percent, Vietnamese at 84 percent and South Koreans at 83 percent, according to Pew.”
How does this information square with your vision of China as the great new beacon of light in an increasingly distressed world after China drops the dollar and crushes American into a pile of dust?
Northwest Resident on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 6:53 pm
Oh, and the link:
news dot yahoo dot com/asia-fears-china-military-conflict-over-sea-claims-222710340.html
Just American propaganda?
Davy on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 8:33 pm
NR, Makster uses selective thinking. Those things which don’t agree with his world view are ignored probably from onset dementia. Mak thinks all is well in Asia and everyone is happy. It is the west that is causing all the problems. He will selectively use MSM where necessary to prove his points. When MSM is against his view he claims that it is a propaganda tool, Mak, if you are out there you can’t have your cake and eat it. Join reality Mak.
Makati1 on Mon, 14th Jul 2014 10:37 pm
Northwest…
First: Source YAHOO, owned by the same people who own all of the ‘news’ in the US.
Second: YAHOO, a major spy organization for the NSA, and relies on being allowed to stay open by same.
Third: Much ‘news’ here has US sources and contain the same spin you get. If you talk to real Filipinos, they are aware of the situation but are not changing their lives because of it. More are taking Mandarin as a third language though. These people are smart.
You have to remember, it was the Spanish, the US, and Japan that ruled and plundered their country up until about 50 years ago, not the Chinese. If the US had the same history, would you worry? But, I bet you would just go on doing the same things. Same here.
Then our corporately owned puppet, President “O”, comes here and promises that the US will protect the Filipinos if China causes trouble. BS! Not going to happen. They will be too busy in all the other 149 countries they infest, by then. They want a war. A big one, and they don’t care if it is YOU that dies.
As for me being afraid? OF what? I lived on the edge of Philly and had to go into the worse sections regularly for my job. I drove the ‘sure-kill’ expressway regularly. I’ve been in so many accidents, I lost count. I could be dead 100 times over in the last 70 years.
I was even once held up by three thugs on a military base when I was 21 and in basic training. Survived a white phosphorus mortar shell that fell 100 yards from the O.P. I was on in Puerto Rico. THAT was a ‘change of pants’ event, I can assure you. I never saw such a bright white umbrella of fire 50 yards across.
I have lived 70 years, and want to live another 30. I still believe that I am in the best place to accomplish that. I have no illusions about the ‘land of the no longer free’ nor of the Philippines. The Lower 48 is not going to be a nice place soon. The flock of black swans over the 48 is a lot bigger than the one circling the Ps. And some of them are vultures, just waiting for the event.
Northwest Resident on Tue, 15th Jul 2014 12:53 am
Makati1 — Thanks for the response. I was wondering what your take would be on that article. No surprise that you consider it pure propaganda and lies based on no reality whatsoever.
I think I mentioned that my girlfriend who I live with is from the Philippines. She speaks with her parents and chats and emails and does the Facebook thing with many friends who live in the Philippines. She doesn’t know anything about this forum and we’ve never discussed it before. I just asked her if anybody she knows in the Philippines is worried about military conflict with China.
She gave me an earful in very animated style, telling me that “everybody” in the Philippines who she knows is worried about China. She says China is an asshole, that they want to take islands from the Philippines just like they are doing to other countries. She definitely does not like China.
I don’t know, Makati1. China has made some aggressive moves on some islands. I think the Asian countries surrounding China do have something to worry about. I think the polling mentioned in the article is 100% correct, or close.
You frequently take the position that America is dying an ugly death — and you make your predictions with a certain unmistakable relish. I think you’re just not seeing the reality about China.
Davy on Tue, 15th Jul 2014 4:30 am
Thanks NR for wak’ing the Mak so I don’t have to chime in. Mak, if you are out there just chill out, lightin up man, and tone down the ideologue!
Idealogue
I*de”a*logue\, n. [Idea + -logue, as in theologue: cf. F. id[‘e]ologue.] One given to fanciful ideas or theories; a theorist; a spectator. [R.] –Mrs. Browning.
synapsid on Tue, 15th Jul 2014 2:51 pm
JuanP,
Thanks!
Not enough Ovaltine yesterday morning, I think.