Mexico and Iran Might Become Net Oil Importers Within 5-15 Years

摘要

After the United States, Indonesia, Egypt and a dozen other countries that used to be oil exporters, it is now Mexico and Iran that could in their turn become net oil importers in a few years' time. Among OPEC member countries, the example of Indonesia is the most striking. In the early 1970s, the Indonesian authorities estimated that the country's oil production would reach 5 million b/d by 1980. In fact, national output reached a peak of no more than 1.68 million b/d in 1981, before starting to decline and falling back to 883,000 b/d in 2006, only half the record level reached 26 years earlier. Meanwhile, the growth in domestic oil consumption speeded up the fall in,exports, with the result that Indonesia has been a net importer since 2004. In 2006 its domestic oil consumption amounted to 1.06 million b/d, or 178,000 b/d more than national production.