http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=22373&t=1&c=62&cg=4&mset= BP report shows we are in sharpest, most prolonged oil price rise since records began
INTERNATIONAL. Divergent price movements, between fuels and regions, affected energy market developments in 2007. Crude oil prices rose for a sixth consecutive year, the longest unbroken period of growth in BP's data set.
Natural gas prices increased modestly except in Europe, where spot prices fell substantially, according to the annual BP Statistical Review. For a second consecutive year, steam coal prices fell in North America but increased elsewhere. Meanwhile, OECD countries are showing the most significant reaction to continued high energy prices.
Energy developments
World primary energy consumption increased by 2.4% in 2007, down from 2.7% in 2006, but still the fifth consecutive year of aboveaverage growth. The Asia Pacific region accounted for two-thirds of global energy consumption growth, rising by an above average 5% even though consumption in Japan declined by 0.9%.
North American consumption rebounded after a weak year in 2006, rising by 1.6%, double the ten-year average. Chinese growth of 7.7% was the weakest since 2002, although still above the ten-year average (as was China’s economic growth). China again accounted for half of global energy consumption growth. Indian consumption grew by 6.8%, the third-largest volumetric increment after China and the US. EU energy consumption declined by 2.2%, with Germany registering the world’s largest decline in energy consumption.
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