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orldwide usage of oil reached nearly 85.9 million b/d in 2007, according to t h e E n e rg y I n f o r m a t i o n A d m i n i s t r a t i o n (EIA). Comparing those numbers with the amount of oil produced in 1990 (66 million b/d) and the a m o u n t p r o j e c t e d t o b e p r o d u c e d i n 2 0 3 0 ( 11 7 . 7 m i l l i o n b / d ) , t h e a p p e t i t e t h e w o r l d h as for oil is clearly not decreasing. “There’s a percentage or chunk of increase [in prices] that is comprised solely on political developments occurring, so there’s a psychological component on changes in market – the political market,” said Glenn Dubin, business development manager for Hart Energy Consulting. “Another component is the increase in demand – like the old adage says, if every citizen in China took one egg globally that we would
run out of eggs on the earth. Same concept with oil.” Where the world goes from here, then, depends on a variety of factors: refining capacity and production, economic conditions as well as the transportation sector, sustainability issues and public policy. Refining Hart Energy Consulting’s World Refining and Fuels Service (WRFS) 2008 projects reserves and production will be adequate to meet demand in 2025. The big problem in the near future will be limited refining capacity. “I think that 2008, in terms of increased or improved refining capacity, globally, if we see anoth-