BP Statistical Review Reveals Big Increase in U.S. Oil/Natural Gas Production; World Energy System Adapts to Changing Global Dynamics

摘要

The BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013 (its "62nd" annual report) launched on June 12 reported that 2012 had the largest single-year increase in U.S. oil production ever recorded, and cited new evidence of the flexibility of the world’s energy system in meeting rapid global change. With rising natural gas output driving prices lower in the U.S., natural gas displaced coal in power generation, causing the U.S. to experience the largest decline of coal consumption in the world. But globally, coal remained the fastest-growing fossil fuel, with China now consuming the majority of the world’s coal for the first time—but it was also the fossil fuel that saw the weakest growth relative to its historical average.