U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Vehicle Technologies Office

Fact #560: March 2, 2009
The Transportation Petroleum Gap

In 1989 the transportation sector petroleum consumption surpassed U.S. petroleum production for the first time, creating a gap that must be met with imports of petroleum. By the year 2030, transportation petroleum consumption is expected to grow to nearly 17 million barrels per day; at that time, the gap between U.S. production and transportation consumption will be 3.7 million barrels per day.

U.S. Petroleum Production and Consumption, 1970-2030
Graph showing the gap between the U.S. petroleum production and the consumption in the transportation sector (cars, light trucks, heavy trucks, rail, marine, off-road, and air) for the time period 1970 to 2030. For more detailed information, see the table below.

Note: The U.S. Production has two lines after 2005. The solid line is conventional sources of petroleum. The dashed line adds in other inputs -- ethanol, liquids from coal, and liquids from biomass. The sharp increase in values between 2006 and 2007 are caused by the data change from historical to projected values.

Supporting Information

Historical and Future U.S. Petroleum Production and Transportation Petroleum Use (Million barrels per day)
Year Autos Light Trucks Medium & Heavy Trucks Total Highway Air Water Off-Highway Rail Pipeline Total Transportation U.S. Petroleum Production with Other Inputs 2007-on (dotted line) U.S. Petroleum Production without Other Inputs 2007-on
1970 4.008 0.727 0.794 5.530 0.617 0.397 0.347 0.262 0.468 7.621 11.656 11.656
1971 4.220 0.796 0.825 5.841 0.616 0.369 0.339 0.263 0.478 7.906 11.537 11.537
1972 4.495 0.894 0.899 6.288 0.621 0.376 0.331 0.274 0.490 8.380 11.605 11.605
1973 4.635 0.993 0.986 6.614 0.650 0.425 0.338 0.284 0.471 8.783 11.399 11.399
1974 4.401 0.983 0.987 6.371 0.592 0.417 0.314 0.286 0.441 8.422 10.942 10.942
1975 4.399 1.126 1.005 6.529 0.602 0.440 0.316 0.258 0.397 8.541 10.467 10.467
1976 4.648 1.229 1.062 6.939 0.630 0.513 0.327 0.268 0.379 9.057 10.241 10.241
1977 4.697 1.321 1.172 7.190 0.638 0.558 0.323 0.273 0.371 9.352 10.387 10.387
1978 4.795 1.426 1.298 7.520 0.672 0.655 0.310 0.271 0.370 9.798 10.771 10.771
1979 4.559 1.443 1.342 7.344 0.703 0.757 0.316 0.279 0.406 9.804 10.662 10.662
1980 4.169 1.405 1.336 6.910 0.677 0.659 0.317 0.271 0.423 9.258 10.797 10.797
1981 4.119 1.400 1.355 6.874 0.686 0.760 0.305 0.259 0.427 9.310 10.688 10.688
1982 4.109 1.340 1.350 6.799 0.683 0.634 0.283 0.222 0.404 9.023 10.729 10.729
1983 4.168 1.412 1.380 6.960 0.680 0.586 0.278 0.220 0.350 9.073 10.734 10.734
1984 4.185 1.510 1.426 7.121 0.760 0.602 0.337 0.245 0.369 9.434 11.092 11.092
1985 4.230 1.612 1.435 7.277 0.792 0.601 0.350 0.229 0.357 9.606 11.138 11.138
1986 4.327 1.714 1.473 7.514 0.861 0.598 0.352 0.224 0.347 9.897 10.847 10.847
1987 4.337 1.804 1.523 7.664 0.897 0.609 0.356 0.229 0.365 10.120 10.583 10.583
1988 4.338 1.926 1.553 7.816 0.934 0.616 0.357 0.235 0.413 10.371 10.448 10.448
1989 4.373 1.963 1.591 7.927 0.936 0.632 0.342 0.236 0.420 10.494 9.820 9.820
1990 4.115 2.102 1.654 7.871 0.981 0.683 0.357 0.232 0.436 10.560 9.597 9.597
1991 3.803 2.255 1.691 7.749 0.916 0.721 0.365 0.219 0.406 10.375 9.791 9.791
1992 3.870 2.417 1.725 8.012 0.931 0.757 0.345 0.224 0.400 10.667 9.667 9.667
1993 3.964 2.530 1.776 8.270 0.938 0.680 0.300 0.231 0.418 10.838 9.349 9.349
1994 4.013 2.605 1.871 8.489 0.978 0.659 0.309 0.255 0.449 11.140 9.156 9.156
1995 4.022 2.690 1.947 8.658 1.011 0.694 0.316 0.264 0.457 11.400 9.096 9.096
1996 4.090 2.795 1.999 8.883 1.042 0.667 0.323 0.270 0.462 11.647 9.157 9.157
1997 4.126 2.913 2.021 9.060 1.086 0.591 0.337 0.271 0.483 11.828 9.118 9.118
1998 4.233 2.977 2.085 9.295 1.120 0.582 0.337 0.273 0.424 12.031 8.897 8.897
1999 4.327 3.118 2.286 9.731 1.167 0.647 0.320 0.283 0.429 12.577 8.617 8.617
2000 4.311 3.121 2.375 9.806 1.204 0.687 0.326 0.283 0.427 12.733 8.704 8.704
2001 4.339 3.154 2.366 9.859 1.139 0.561 0.348 0.284 0.419 12.610 8.573 8.573
2002 4.447 3.156 2.469 10.072 1.045 0.590 0.355 0.286 0.440 12.788 8.582 8.582
2003 4.383 3.567 2.401 10.351 1.047 0.508 0.364 0.291 0.401 12.963 8.374 8.374
2004 4.419 3.713 2.233 10.366 1.109 0.614 0.372 0.307 0.388 13.157 8.302 8.302
2005 4.536 3.446 2.496 10.478 1.170 0.647 0.376 0.310 0.398 13.379 7.885 7.885
2006 4.396 3.551 2.543 10.490 1.179 0.687 0.376 0.316 0.398 13.447 7.835 7.835
2007 4.335 4.736 2.591 11.662 1.312 0.677 0.392 0.300 0.436 14.780 8.589 7.846
2008 4.247 4.705 2.418 11.370 1.311 0.608 0.403 0.303 0.446 14.442 8.676 7.776
2009 4.180 4.710 2.375 11.265 1.259 0.590 0.415 0.291 0.448 14.268 9.081 8.172
2010 4.227 4.821 2.437 11.485 1.252 0.634 0.421 0.287 0.435 14.515 9.665 8.448
2011 4.271 4.902 2.554 11.727 1.191 0.682 0.425 0.293 0.440 14.759 9.773 8.458
2012 4.255 4.874 2.659 11.788 1.180 0.688 0.435 0.304 0.447 14.842 9.939 8.573
2013 4.247 4.817 2.726 11.790 1.205 0.691 0.445 0.311 0.445 14.886 10.036 8.568
2014 4.233 4.784 2.758 11.775 1.227 0.692 0.454 0.316 0.441 14.905 10.110 8.535
2015 4.240 4.737 2.787 11.764 1.245 0.693 0.454 0.319 0.441 14.916 10.173 8.522
2016 4.288 4.691 2.826 11.805 1.266 0.696 0.454 0.323 0.444 14.987 10.282 8.577
2017 4.340 4.634 2.859 11.833 1.282 0.699 0.462 0.327 0.447 15.049 10.476 8.733
2018 4.390 4.595 2.892 11.878 1.301 0.703 0.469 0.330 0.449 15.130 10.782 8.948
2019 4.459 4.511 2.906 11.875 1.337 0.705 0.478 0.334 0.446 15.175 10.896 9.064
2020 4.522 4.504 2.902 11.929 1.363 0.708 0.477 0.336 0.468 15.280 11.222 9.265
2021 4.588 4.499 2.921 12.008 1.388 0.711 0.475 0.336 0.490 15.409 11.546 9.407
2022 4.652 4.523 2.954 12.129 1.413 0.715 0.483 0.338 0.494 15.571 11.907 9.580
2023 4.723 4.486 2.995 12.204 1.440 0.719 0.491 0.341 0.490 15.685 12.203 9.789
2024 4.796 4.466 3.045 12.307 1.471 0.723 0.500 0.344 0.496 15.840 12.428 9.902
2025 4.870 4.462 3.094 12.426 1.504 0.726 0.499 0.347 0.497 16.000 12.674 10.034
2026 4.944 4.465 3.152 12.561 1.539 0.729 0.504 0.351 0.498 16.181 12.771 10.036
2027 5.016 4.469 3.217 12.702 1.574 0.731 0.509 0.355 0.497 16.368 12.862 10.010
2028 5.088 4.474 3.286 12.847 1.608 0.735 0.513 0.360 0.490 16.553 13.036 10.082
2029 5.130 4.459 3.360 12.949 1.643 0.738 0.518 0.365 0.489 16.703 13.162 10.136
2030 5.202 4.470 3.441 13.113 1.678 0.741 0.523 0.371 0.488 16.914 13.258 10.170

Sources: Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 27, and EIA Annual Energy Outlook 2009, December 2008.

 

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