Top 20 Oil Consuming Countries in the World (2007).

jackmcmanus21 · Coal Joined: Aug 04, 2008 Posts: 11

and we're #1 in a landslide...

I was thinking the same thing about Brazil and their ethanol...but I didn't think of alternative uses of oil
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Smudger

I would take brazil's per capita consumption if we offered that as a global max at 0.012 far better than the USA's 0.068

oddrishshyo · Coal Joined: Aug 21, 2008 Posts: 1

Bangladesh probably has the lowest consumption per capita standing at only 0.0007- yet we're the first one's to feel the wrath of natural catastrophies driven by excessive oil consumption if there is indeed a link between global warming and burning hydrocarbons.

Maddog78 · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 14, 2008 Posts: 212

DaleFromCalgary · Tar Sands Joined: Jul 31, 2008 Posts: 60

It would be interesting to see this by each country's temperature extremes. No doubt the Saudis waste cheap gas but I'm sure they have to keep those air conditioners running. Canada is mostly a cold country where furnaces keep running eight months of the year. The USA has both cold zones and hot zones.

I'm not sure why the Dutch use so much. Perhaps they have to keep those dehumidifiers and pumps running.

spot5050

Here's yet another way to look at it: Energy efficiency...

How much GDP does each country generate per barrel of oil consumed?

Switzerland 3788
Denmark 3516
United Kingdom 3393
Austria 2820
Germany 2819
Sweden 2746
France 2721
Norway 2671
Italy 2456
Finland 2321
Japan 2294
Australia 1933
Spain 1847
Netherlands 1809
United States 1605
Belgium 1546
Poland 1384
Greece 1292
Canada 1241
South Africa 1206
Turkey 1159
Mexico 1055
Taiwan 913.8
South Korea 859.8
India 797.4
Brazil 787.7
China 708.9
Indonesia 611.5
Russia 569.2
Saudi Arabia 387.2

Taken from this wiki page

dohboi · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Dec 05, 2005 Posts: 1476

The numbers for gasoline consumption are even more skewed--US gobbling some 40% of the total.

Twilight is definitely right. And welcome to the forum, oddrishshyo (if I got that right).

karras

Going back to the consumption per capita-

With the Saudis at the top of the list, this does not bode well for the rest of the world if this trend continues. When Saudi Arabia became one of the most important countries around 1970 due to its excess oil production capacity, it had a population of under 6 million. Today, Saudia Arabia's population is about 25 million.

With a rapidly growing population, and rapidly increasing domestic consumption, this will likely mean less Saudi oil for the rest of the world at a time when the world needs it even more.

dohboi · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Dec 05, 2005 Posts: 1476

Nicely put. This general observation has been carefully studied and monitored over at The Oil Drum. People generally refer to the phenomena simply as Export Land or Export Land Model (if I am remembering correctly).

karras

Yes, I remember reading of the Export Land Model as well, either on The Oil Drum or Energy Bulletin. That type of scenario has already played out for Indonesia, which is now a net oil importer and dropped out of OPEC.

It is also happening in Egypt where production has declined and consumption has risen to the point where they produce and consume about the same amount, no net imports or exports. But, they will become a net importer within the next year or two.

I think it is pretty telling that a significant oil producer and major country in the Middle East will soon have to import oil from other Middle East countries. It is not what the average person would believe, as most people probably assume that the entire Middle East is full of centuries of oil yet to be produced.

dohboi · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Dec 05, 2005 Posts: 1476

This is one of many above-the-ground feedbacks that is going to steepen the down slope of Hubberts curve.

An even more important concept, as far as I can see, is Total Available Energy. Shortonoil has posted some on this. Basically, since we have gone through most of the easy-to-get, high-quality oil, what we will be getting from now on is mostly stuff that will take much more energy to find and extract and process, so the net energy in it, once you subtract all these expenses, will be rapidly shrinking. Before long you have a product that requires more energy to extract and produce than the energy you get out of it. At this point it is no longer a fuel but a boutique and increasingly energy-expensive and inefficient energy carrier, more like electricity than coal.