The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest International Energy Outlook 2017 (IEO2017) projects that world energy consumption will grow by 28% between 2015 and 2040. Most of this growth is expected to come from countries that are not in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and especially in countries where demand is driven by strong economic growth, particularly in Asia. Non-OECD Asia (which includes China and India) accounts for more than 60% of the world’s total increase in energy consumption from 2015 through 2040. Although liquid fuels—mostly petroleum-based—remain the largest energy source throughout the IEO2017 projections, the liquids share of world marketed energy consumption is projected to fall slightly, from 33% in 2015 to 31% in 2040. As oil prices rise, energy consumers are expected to turn to more energy-efficient technologies and switch away from liquid fuels where possible. Source: The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), 9/14/2017.

TCGR Note: EIA also released this week on 9/21/17 a report detailing the changing quality mix of crude oil since 2016. This is an important aspect to the growing interest of evaluating more chemicals production within and outside of the refining complex. For more information, see TCGR’s newly launched multi-client study “Oil-to-Chemicals: Technological Approaches and Advanced Process Configurations”.