Record oil production by Saudi Arabia and the U.S. in 2011 helped ensure
the world economy was supplied with enough crude, despite the severe
disruptions to the energy system that occurred last year caused by civil
war in Libya and a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan, BP
PLC's (BP.LN)
annual statistical review showed Wednesday.
The loss of oil production in Libya, a major supplier of light
crude to Europe, was more than offset by large increases by Middle
Eastern producers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries, as well as the continued renaissance in U.S. oil and gas
production, which led the way in non-OPEC output for the third year
running.
"Last year is a story about disruptions and continuity. 2011
was characterized by severe hits to the energy system, but when you look
at the aggregate numbers it seems like a perfectly normal year," said BP
Chief Economist Christof Ruehl.
Massive increases in OPEC production combined with an
efficient and sophisticated crude trading system helped ensure the
world's growing demand for energy continued to be met, said Ruehl. In
addition, the "tremendous redirection" of liquefied natural gas
shipments away from Europe and instead to Japan to substitute for the
loss of nuclear power following the tsunami was done without harming the
energy needs of other fast-growing Asian countries such as China.
Global oil consumption increased 0.7% or 0.6 million barrels a
day to reach 88 million barrels a day in 2011, marking the weakest
global growth rate among fossil fuels in BP's
statistical review. Oil consumption in member countries of the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD,
declined 1.2% to its lowest level since 1995, while oil consumption
outside the OECD grew 2.8% in 2011, BP
said.
"Despite strong oil prices, oil consumption growth was below
average in producing regions of the Middle East and Africa due to
regional unrest," the oil giant said.
China was the largest contributor to a rise in global oil
demand growth in 2011, increasing its total oil demand by 505,000
barrels a day or 5.5% in 2011, although the growth rate was below its
10-year average, BP
said. Meanwhile middle distillates were again the fastest-growing
refined product category by volume, for the seventh time in the past 10
years, the oil major added.
On the production side, annual global oil output rose by 1.1
million barrels a day or 1.3% in 2011, largely due to net production
growth from countries that make up OPEC. Saudi Arabia boosted output by
1.2 million barrels a day, while output from the United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait and Iraq more than offset a 1.2 million barrels a day output drop
in Libya.
Output reached record levels in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab
Emirates and Qatar, BP
said.
In non-OPEC countries, output was broadly flat, with increases
in the U.S., Canada, Russia and Colombia offsetting continued declines
in mature areas such as the U.K. and Norway, as well as unexpected
outages in a number of other countries. The U.S. registered the largest
increase among non-OPEC producers for the third consecutive year, driven
by continued strong growth in onshore shale liquids output, which
pushed U.S. oil output to its highest level since 1998, BP
said.