India, China to account for maximum global oil growth

Washington, Nov 14 (UNI) Global energy consumption will grow by over 70 per cent by 2030 with the developing economies in Asia, including India and China, contributing for the strongest growth.

US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman made these observations saying that growth was expected to triple in India and China over the next 25 years, but also warned that high oil prices could wreck economies, especially in the developing world.

''Though we estimate that oil's share of total energy use will fall slightly in the coming decades from 38 per cent in 2003 to 33 per cent in 2030, the demand for oil is still expected to grow strongly, reaching 118 million barrels per day by 2030,'' he said.

The United States, China and India together will account for half of the projected growth in world oil demand, he added.

Mr Bodman, who was addressing a speech at the annual conference of the West Asia Institute here yesterday, also urged oil-producing countries not to cut production in an attempt to boost prices.

Though he did not mention OPEC by name in his speech, but the international oil cartel voted last month to cut output by 1.2 (one-point-two) million barrels a day in an effort to counter falling oil prices.

He also voiced a ''high level of concern about the impact of energy prices on American families and businesses.'' The Energy Secretary said governments around the world must fund more research into alternate energy sources, such as ethanol, solar and wind.

''Most national economies around the world including the US are fundamentally hydrocarbon-based. And they will remain so in the near-term.'' He called for actively moving toward developing and deploying alternatives to diversify the global energy supply. He recalled that US President Bush's American Competitiveness Initiative proposes, among other things, an increase of half-a-billion dollars this year for the Department of Energy's research budget, and a doubling over ten years.

The complementary Advanced Energy Initiative proposes to increase funding for clean energy technologies by 22 per cent this year.

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