America’s oil consumption has dropped 20% since 2005

It’s a mystery worthy of a detective novel: as US consumption patterns have changed, an estimated 4 million barrels a day of the country’s oil demand has simply vanished

Much has been made of the US production renaissance, attributed to onshore unconventional drilling, but it is only half the story. As US unconventional output has surged, the country’s consumption patterns have defied assumptions, dropping by 20% since 2005. For almost half a century, it has been a given that US oil demand would continue to rise even as its domestic production was falling. But right now, the opposite is the case: US demand is falling as production surges. It is a simple fact with huge implications for the entire North American energy complex. From a peak of almost 22 million barrels a day (b/d) in 2005, US consumption averaged just 18m b/d so far this year, and is falling at