Why might the consumption rate of crude oil be higher than the production rate in 2006?
Pretty simple really, production fell or failed to rise at the same rate as consumption. This is going to become more and more of an annual occurrence as the production is limited by guvmint interference and enviro-wackos getting feel-good, do-nothing laws passed. Production will rise but so will the cost of production and that will drive the prices of all of the hundreds of products gained from hydrocarbons up as well. One day, when alternate resources become cost competitive with hydrocarbon, (oil rises to new heights) the push for new production will ease although I see no resolution to some need for oil for centuries to come.
