The World’s Biggest Oil Consuming Countries

It’s no surprise that the US is the world’s biggest oil-consuming country, consumed 19.88 million barrels of oil per day (mbd) in 2017, which accounted for nearly 20.2 percent of the world’s total oil consumption per day, according to the research unit of CEOWORLD magazine. China’s oil consumption stood at 12.79mbd in 2017, accounting for about 13 percent of the world’s total oil consumption making it the second biggest oil consumer after the United States.

The top five here is completed by India, consuming 4.69 million barrels of oil per day; Japan, consuming 3.98 million barrels of oil per day; and Saudi Arabia consuming 3.91 million barrels of oil per day. Together, these five countries gobble up more than 45 million barrels every day. So, just five nations account for more than 46% of global oil consumption.

Well, there are three major demand centers for oil in the world: the European Union, the United States, and the Asia-Pacific.

Oil demand in the Asia Pacific region climbed from 26.04 million BPD in 2007 to 34.57 million BPD in 2017. Of course, the primary reasons are China and India.

Chinese demand has increased by almost 5.0 million BPD over the past decade, from 7.8mbd in 2017 to 12.85mbd in 2017- by far the most of any country.  Similarly, oil demand in India has increased by almost 2.0 million BPD over the past decade, from 2.94mbd in 2007 to 4.69 million barrels of oil per day (mbd) in 2017.

So, what would happen if these five biggest oil-consuming countries — that need more than 45 million barrels of oil per day — reduced their consumption by half.

The world’s biggest oil consuming countries and share of total world oil consumption (Thousand Barrels per Day) in 2017: