Centre of gravity in the global energy market has changed and we need to wake up

Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, explains why 2008 is likely to go down in history as a turning point for the way in which the world consumes and produces energy.

The last year will go down in the history books for many reasons: the events in financial markets; the takeover of much of the banking sector by governments worldwide; and the presidential election in the United States, to name but three.

But one event went almost unnoticed. 2008 was the year when the centre of gravity in the energy market tilted sharply and permanently towards the emerging nations of the world. For the first time ever, non-OECD energy consumption outstripped that of the OECD nations.

This really is a decisive moment. People have been predicting such fundamental shift, with its implications for the world economy and geopolitics, for some time. Now it has happened.

For those interested in the numbers, OEC primary energy consumption