Strong demand from Asia will spur steady growth in energy demand over the next two decades despite recent volatility and plunging oil prices, energy giant BP said Tuesday.
Global energy demand is expected to rise an average of 1.4 per cent annually over the next 20 years, or 37 per cent from 2013 to 2035, the company said in its BP Energy Outlook 2035.
"Today's turbulence is a return to business as usual," said Bob Dudley, BP's chief executive. "Continuous change is the norm in our industry." Oil demand from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which includes the major Western and other developed nations, will drop by 2025 to levels not seen since the mid-1980s, BP said.
But global oil demand will expand about 0.8 per cent annually, driven by non-OECD nations, it said, with China expected to overtake the United States as the largest oil consumer by 2035.
"The strong growth of US tight oil in recent years has had a dramatic impact with oil increasingly flowing from West to East rather than East to West," Dudley said.
"This is likely to continue with strong growth in China and India driving energy demand," he said.