Last year BP published their 2005 Review of World Energy - Report. This report was cumulated in 2005 for the year 2004. Overall, the report provides great insight to where we stand in world of energy today.

According to BP's Lord Browne of Madingley, Group Chief Executive: "At $38 per barrel (Brent), the average oil price for the year was almost $10 above the 2003 level. The increase was driven mainly by demand growth, particularly in Asia, where Chinese consumption rose by 900,000 barrels per day (b/d) - almost all of which was accounted for by imports. Globally, with economic growth at a 15-year high, demand for oil grew by 2.5 million b/d ... ... Good data is essential to an understanding of what is happening. This 54th edition of the Statistical Review again sets out the facts."

The BP report is extremely detailed; it relies on hard statistical data dating back to 1965 and it uses comparative analysis to provide information. The report shows hard data in various energy areas, I'll list a few to give you an idea of what information can be found in the report. For the world the report shows numbers and comparisons for:
- Oil Supply, Oil Demand, Oil Reserves
- Gas Supply, Gas Demand, Gas Reserves
- Also, Coal, Nuclear, Hydroelectric, and Electricity

Each area is further broken down by geographical region or by country the data is then analyzed and used for future trend speculation.

As one example, the report shows that between 1986 and 2000 World Oil Consumption (reference introduction image/chart) grew at approximately a 1.8% rate. On the other side of the eqn is that world oil production kept pace. Note, as is barley noticeable on the curve, around the Year 2001 the oil consumption curve took a relatively steep turn upwards showing the overall increase in the demand for oil.

For total world energy consumption the report breaks the world down into six geographical regions. The following table shows the 2004 percent consumption numbers for each region and the associated percent change from the previous year:

2004	North America	S./C. America	Europe & Eurasia	Middle East	Africa	Asia Pacific
% Energy Cons.	27.2%	4.7%	29.0%	4.7%	3.1%	31.3%
% Change 2003 to 2004	1.6%	5.0%	1.9%	6.1%	4.0%	8.9%

More information on this report may be found at BP Global. This article gives you some brief detail that shows where we stand when it comes to oil consumption and production as well as some world wide energy stats. But what we did not discuss, for the moment, is the increased rate at which were consuming both energy and oil.