Energy consumption in developing countries exceeded that of industrialised countries in 2008 - Energy consumption in developing countries exceeded that of OECD countries in 2008. This is an unprecedented trend and can be explained by the crisis hitting the industrialised countries hard but which has not yet affected developing countries such a China and whose thirst for energy products is far from having been satisfied. Developing countries alone represented 51.3% of the world's primary energy consumption. This is the observation made by the British oil group BP in its “Statistical Review of World Energy” on 10 June. BP chief executive Tony Hayward stated: “The centre of gravity of the global energy markets has tilted sharply and irreversibly towards the emerging nations of the world, especially China”. According to Hayward, “this is not a temporary phenomenon” but a situation that will increase over time and which will affect prices and bring new challenges over economic growth, energy security and climate change. BP chief economist Christof Ruehl said that the only solution for managing the inevitable variations in prices should be allowing markets to function freely and without interference, which has been the case up until now. In its report, BP indicates that the remaining proved oil reserves stand at 1,258 billion barrels (excluding Canadian oil sands), enough for 42 years at 2008 production rates. On the same basis, reserves of gas are sufficient for 60 years and coal for 122 years. Reflecting the extremes of the world economy across 2008 - strong growth followed by sharp decline - the review shows that overall primary energy consumption nudged up just 1.4 per cent, the smallest rise since 2001. China alone accounted for almost three quarters of the rise. In the developed world, energy consumption fell by 1.3 per cent, with demand in the USA seeing the steepest single year decline since 1982, a drop of 2.8 per cent. - Oil: Over the year, global oil consumption fell by 0.6 per cent, or 420,000 barrels a day; the first decline since 1993 and the largest drop for 27 years. This included a steep fall in demand of 1.5 million barrels a day from the developed OECD countries - and slower growth in demand (up just 1.1 million barrels a day) from outside the OECD. Despite overall lower demand, average oil production rose 0.4 per cent, or 380,000 barrels a day, driven largely by OPEC production increases. Production outside OPEC recorded the steepest decline since 1992, falling by 1.4 per cent, or 601,000 barrels a day, - Gas: Gas consumption grew by 2.5 per cent. Consumption in the USA grew by 0.6 per cent as spot prices remained well below oil prices. Elsewhere, only the Middle East saw above-average growth, driven by strong domestic demand. The largest incremental growth in world gas demand was from China, where consumption rose 15.8 per cent. Globally, gas production rose 3.8 per cent, above the 10-year trend of 3 per cent. This was driven strongly by the US. - Coal: For the sixth consecutive year coal remained the fastest growing fuel globally, even though its 3.1 per cent growth in consumption was below the 10-year trend. China accounts for fully 43 per cent of global coal demand. Outside China however, global demand growth was weak, climbing only 0.6 per cent. - Other fuels: Nuclear output fell for the second consecutive year, by 0.7 per cent, led by a 10 per cent decline in Japanese output. Hydroelectric output continued its recent strong performance with growth of 2.8 per cent, above the 10 year average, due to increased production in China. - Renewable energy: This again grew strongly albeit from a low base, with wind and solar generating-capacity growing 29.9 per cent and 69 per cent respectively. (I.L./transl.rh)