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A record energy year
Statistical Review: 2023 sets consumption, oil, coal, renewables records
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The year 2023 set records for global energy consumption as well as global oil and coal production and growth in renewable energy.
Those were among the key takeaways in the 2023 Statistical Review of World Energy, released June 20 by the Energy Institute and co-authors KPMG and Kearney. The Statistical Review had been produced for many years by bp; the Energy Institute took over with the 2022 edition.
The Energy Institute summarized the Statistical Review findings:
Global primary energy consumption set a record high at 620 Exajoules, EJ, up 2% from 2022, with global fossil fuel consumption also at a new record of 505 EJ, a 1.5% increase, with both coal and oil hitting record levels, although, at 81.5% of the energy mix that share was down from 82% in 2022. With increased consumption, emissions were also up, by 2%, and reached 40 gigatonnes of CO2 for the first time.
Solar and wind increased, pushing renewable generation up 13% to a new record of 4,748 TWh, terawatt hours. Wind and solar accounted for 74% of the net increase in electricity generation. Renewables, excluding hydro, accounted for 8% of primary energy use -- 15% with hydro included.
The ongoing Ukraine conflict cemented natural gas rebalancing in Europe, with European gas demand down 7% in 2023 following a 13% drop in 2022, and Russia's share of European Union gas imports down from 45% in 2021 to 15% and LNG imports outpacing pipeline gas for the second year in a row.
"Dependence on fossil fuels in major advanced economies is likely to have peaked," with European fossil fuel use below 70% for the first time since the industrial revolution and U.S. consumption of fossil fuels down to 80% of total energy use.
By comparison, growth economies are struggling to reduce growth of fossil fuel use, although renewable energy use in China is accelerating. Fossil fuel consumption in India was up 8% and constituted 89% of overall consumption, with India using more coal than Europe and North America combined. While primary energy consumption fell 0.5% in Africa, 90% was fossil fuel consumption, with renewables providing only 6% of electricity generation.
Fossil fuel has been on decline in China since 2011, but increased 6% in 2023, and was 81.6% last year, with China accounting for 55% of all renewable generation additions and overtaking Europe on an energy per capita basis.
The review is available at www.energyinst.org/statistical-review.
Regional differences The Statistical Review said 2023, at 620 EJ, set a record for the second year in a row for global energy consumption, "with non-OECD countries dominating both the share and annual growth rates" and fossil fuels dominating non-OECD development at 84%.
The northern and southern hemispheres are starkly different, with primary energy consumption in the Global South exceeding that in the Global North since 2014, and the Global South accounting for 56% of total energy usage in 2023 and growing at twice the global rate of 2%. In the Global South 47% of global energy demands comes from the Asia Pacific, dominated by China, India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.
Southern and Central America and Asia Pacific saw growth above the global average, while total demand in Africa was down 0.4% with flat electricity consumption and North America and Europe saw falls in electricity demand of 1% and 2% respectively. The Statistical Review said areas with dropping electricity demand saw energy efficiency regulations, energy-efficient lighting and changing consumer habits.
Electricity consumption per capita is 30 Gigajoules in Africa, South Asia and Southern and Central America, compared to an average of 180 GJ in North America, the CIS and the Middle East.
North America has the most secure supply of energy, with oil production in 2023 16% above domestic consumption and natural gas production 14% above. Europe has been a net importer of energy since the 1980s and Asia Pacific has the highest demand and has also consistently been an importer since the 1980s.
Oil Global oil production was just over 96 million barrels per day in 2023 -- a record level -- with the U.S. remaining the largest producer with output growing by more than 8%.
Russia's production was down by 1% on international sanctions, while there was continued post-COVID growth in Southern and Central America -- up 11%, the highest growth rate of any region in 2023.
China's production was up 2%, and the country accounted for 57% of total production in the Asia Pacific region. China overtook the U.S. on refining market capacity, reaching 18,484 thousand barrels per day, although it lags the U.S. at nearly 82% utilization compared to some 87% in the U.S.
Global consumption of oil was more than 100 million barrels per day, a new record.
The Middle East dominated exports, 41% of the total, with China the largest importer, at 27% of the total.
Russia was the second larger exporter with 11% of the total and the U.S. increased its share by 1% to 9% for 2023. Europe was the second largest importer, accounting fo5r 21%, followed by the U.S. at 15%.
"Collectively, China and India increased their imports of Russian crude by 53% whilst Europe reduced its imports by 72%," the Statistical Review said.
Natural gas The U.S. increased its liquefied natural gas exports from 0.2 bcm (billion cubic meters) in 2013 to 114 bcm in 2023 and became the world's leading LNG exporter in 2023, surpassing Qatar and Australia.
Global natural gas demand remained stable, up just 1 bcm not enough to return demand to previous levels following a 15 bcm drop in 2022.
European natural gas demand was down 7%, 34 bcm in 2023, 7%, lowest since 1994, and gas production in the region was down 7% with decreases in Norway, UK and the Netherlands, the region's top producing countries.
Asia Pacific saw an increase of nearly 2%, with China and India up 7%.
The Middle East is the largest natural gas exporter, followed by the U.S. and Australia, with China, Japan and other Asia Pacific nations the largest importers.
The gas trade has fluctuated between 900 and 1,000 bcm since 2017, and ell 2.7% to 936 bcm in 2023, with LNG now making up 59% of globally traded gas.
Coal Coal production reached its highest level ever in 2023, 179 EJ, beating a previous high set in 2022, with Asia Pacific accounting for nearly 80% of global output -- and Australia, China, India and Indonesia combined producing 97% of Asia Pacific output.
Global coal consumption exceeded 164 EJ for the first time, up 1.6% from 2022, and seven times higher than previous 10-year average growth.
China is the largest consumer at 56% of the global total, but in 2023 India exceeded combined European and North American consumption for the first time.
In both Europe and North America, coal consumption fell below 10 EJ, the lowest levels since 1965.
Indonesia, Australia and Russia are the largest exporters, with China, other Asia Pacific nations and India the largest importers. The international coal trade was up almost 10%, the highest level since 2018.
Nuclear, electricity, renewables In 2023 China commissioned the world's first onshore demonstration of a small modular reactor, as it continues to lead in building new nuclear capacity, 60% of all nuclear capacity additions since 2000.
Worldwide installed capacity dropped in 2023, but there was a 2% increase in electricity generation from nuclear power, which is still 58 terawatt hours below the 2019 pre-COVID level and 2% below a peak in 2006.
Global electricity generation reached a record 29,925 terawatt hours in 2023, a growth rate 25% faster than total global primary energy consumption with fossil fuels powering 60% of that power generation. Coal remained the dominant fuel but the renewables share of electric power generation rose from 29% to 30%, with Southern and Central America having the highest contribution from renewables at 72%.
There was a 5% increase in electricity demand in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, while demand fell 2.4% in Europe and 1% in North America.
In 2023 there was a 56 gigawatt capacity of grid-scale battery electricity storage, nearly 50% of which was installed in China.
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