The oil boom in the US is the most significant fact of 2012, according to BP

In 2012 the USA reached a peak in their production of oil (more than 1 million barrels) thanks to shale gas. The world economic recession that concerned most of OECD countries led to a decrease in energy consumption in the USA, European Union and Japan but because of the energy thirst of the BRICS countries the consumption of energy increased at the world scale as well as the CO2 level. The world consumption of coal increased by 2.5% which is less than in the previous years but for the first time since 1970 coal reached almost 30% of the world consumption of primary energy. The article includes 3 tables giving the 2012 world consumption of oil, of coal according to continents and listing the places and quantities of proved reserves of natural gas. (A.C.)