进入八十年代以来,西方世界出现了石油消费量下降的趋势。经济合作和发展组织的24个成员国去年的石油消费量比1979年下降了7％,石油进口量下降了12.6％。预料今年的石油消费量将再下降4—6％。世界上耗油最多的美国,石油消费量去年比前年下降了8％,今年头5个月又比去年同期减少了7％以上。据美国《油气杂志》报道,美国今年的石油总进口量将下降到1975年以来的最低水平,每天为627万桶,比去年的673万桶下降6.9％。而去年已比前年下降了19.3％。以石油为主要能源的日本,去年的石油消费量比前年下降了10％。石油在能源结构中的比重已由1979年度的71.4％降为1980年度的66.1％。去年的石油进口量也从1979年的平均每天538万桶锐减为490万桶,下降9％。西德、英国、法国、意大利等国的石油消费量也都有不同程度的降低。据埃克森石油公司预测,西方主要工业国对石油的需求量将从 Since the 1980s, there has been a downward trend in the consumption of petroleum in the western world. Last year’s oil consumption of the 24 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development was down 7% from 1979 and oil imports fell 12.6%. It is expected that this year’s oil consumption will drop another 4-6%. In the United States, where the world consumes the most oil, its oil consumption dropped by 8% over the previous year and dropped by more than 7% in the first five months of this year over the same period of last year. According to the U.S. oil and gas magazine, the total U.S. oil imports this year will fall to its lowest level since 1975, at 6.27 million barrels a day, down 6.9% from 6.73 million barrels last year. Last year, it dropped by 19.3% over the previous year. In Japan, where oil is the main energy source, last year’s oil consumption dropped by 10% over the previous year. The share of oil in the energy mix has dropped from 71.4% in 1979 to 66.1% in 1980. Last year’s oil imports dropped sharply from 4.9 million barrels per day in 1979 to 4.9 million barrels, down 9%. West Germany, Britain, France, Italy and other countries also have different levels of oil consumption reduction. Exxon predicts that the demand for oil from the major western industrial nations will rise from that