Living in Alberta for over 50 years, I’ve witnessed the debate about oil go from what do we do when it runs out to how do we develop the massive reserves locked in the oil sands to is the world going to want our oil given climate change and new technology like electric vehicles?

As a result, my ears perked up when I heard a young couple behind me in line at a coffee shop talking about global oil consumption. They were worried the high price they just paid for a condo in Calgary might come back to haunt them if “the world keeps using less oil.”

I couldn't tell if they were Owl subscribers, so I elected not to interrupt their day with the following observations.

The world is not using less oil. I can see why people might think that given the effort to reduce carbon emissions, but the fact is that global oil consumption is higher than ever.

At about 102 million barrels per day, global oil consumption last year was 2% higher than in 2022 and 32% higher than in 2000.*

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest forecast released yesterday sees consumption rising by almost another million barrels per day this year and then  to over 104 million barrels per day in 2025.

If the world is going to use less oil, it hasn’t happened yet and Canada is helping to meet the demand.

*U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-term Energy Outlook Data Browser

Answer to the previous trivia question: According to Investopedia, the name "Satoshi Nakamoto" is the pseudonym for the person or people who introduced the concept of Bitcoin in a 2008 paper.

Today’s trivia question: When was the U.S. Energy Information Administration created?