Based on comments on my post of a few days ago, it appears that there’s some confusion about where we are with oil consumption. To help sort things out, I give you my first chart in a while (data is from the EIA):
As you can see, the rest of the world’s petroleum consumption is rising much faster than ours, and this is going to place permanent price pressures on petroleum. And while it is true that US gasoline demand has dropped off a bit, the global demand for gasoline is still rising.
Another point of perspective: In the 1960’s, the US consumed about 35% of the world’s oil production. Today it’s about 24%. The EIA projections show us leveling off at about 23%, but I think that’s optimistic. geoff’s projection: by 2020 we’ll be below 20%.
