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

Vehicle Technologies Office

Fact #609: February 8, 2010
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 2035, transportation petroleum consumption is expected to grow to more than 17 million barrels per day; at that time, the gap between U.S. production and transportation consumption will be about 5 million barrels per day (when including the non-petroleum sources).

U.S. Petroleum Production and Consumption, 1970-2035
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 2035. 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, including crude oil, natural gas plant liquids, and refinery gains. The dashed line adds in other non-petroleum sources, including ethanol, biomass, liquids from coal, other blending components, other hydrocarbons, and ethers. The sharp increase in values between 2007 and 2008 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 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 0.617 0.397 0.347 0.262 0.468 7.621 11.656 11.656
1971 4.220 0.796 0.825 0.616 0.369 0.339 0.263 0.478 7.906 11.537 11.537
1972 4.495 0.894 0.899 0.621 0.376 0.331 0.274 0.490 8.380 11.605 11.605
1973 4.635 0.993 0.986 0.650 0.425 0.338 0.284 0.471 8.783 11.399 11.399
1974 4.401 0.983 0.987 0.592 0.417 0.314 0.293 0.441 8.428 10.942 10.942
1975 4.399 1.126 1.005 0.602 0.440 0.316 0.264 0.397 8.547 10.467 10.467
1976 4.648 1.229 1.062 0.630 0.514 0.327 0.274 0.379 9.064 10.241 10.241
1977 4.697 1.321 1.172 0.638 0.558 0.323 0.279 0.371 9.359 10.387 10.387
1978 4.795 1.426 1.298 0.672 0.655 0.310 0.278 0.370 9.805 10.771 10.771
1979 4.559 1.443 1.342 0.703 0.545 0.316 0.287 0.406 9.600 10.662 10.662
1980 4.169 1.405 1.336 0.677 0.660 0.317 0.278 0.423 9.265 10.797 10.797
1981 4.119 1.400 1.355 0.687 0.601 0.305 0.265 0.427 9.158 10.688 10.688
1982 4.109 1.340 1.350 0.682 0.504 0.283 0.227 0.404 8.898 10.729 10.729
1983 4.168 1.412 1.380 0.680 0.462 0.278 0.226 0.350 8.955 10.734 10.734
1984 4.185 1.510 1.426 0.760 0.457 0.337 0.251 0.369 9.295 11.092 11.092
1985 4.230 1.612 1.434 0.792 0.413 0.350 0.235 0.357 9.424 11.138 11.138
1986 4.327 1.714 1.473 0.861 0.627 0.352 0.230 0.347 9.932 10.847 10.847
1987 4.337 1.804 1.523 0.897 0.653 0.356 0.235 0.365 10.169 10.583 10.583
1988 4.338 1.926 1.553 0.934 0.671 0.357 0.241 0.413 10.432 10.448 10.448
1989 4.373 1.963 1.591 0.936 0.718 0.342 0.243 0.421 10.587 9.820 9.820
1990 4.115 2.102 1.654 0.981 0.683 0.357 0.239 0.436 10.567 9.597 9.597
1991 3.803 2.255 1.691 0.916 0.721 0.365 0.226 0.406 10.382 9.791 9.791
1992 3.870 2.417 1.725 0.930 0.757 0.345 0.231 0.399 10.675 9.667 9.667
1993 3.964 2.530 1.776 0.938 0.680 0.300 0.239 0.418 10.845 9.349 9.349
1994 4.013 2.605 1.871 0.978 0.660 0.309 0.254 0.449 11.140 9.156 9.156
1995 4.022 2.690 1.947 1.011 0.695 0.316 0.264 0.457 11.400 9.096 9.096
1996 4.090 2.795 1.999 1.042 0.667 0.323 0.270 0.462 11.647 9.157 9.157
1997 4.126 2.913 2.021 1.087 0.591 0.337 0.271 0.483 11.828 9.118 9.118
1998 4.233 2.977 2.085 1.120 0.582 0.337 0.273 0.424 12.031 8.897 8.897
1999 4.327 3.118 2.286 1.167 0.647 0.320 0.283 0.429 12.576 8.617 8.617
2000 4.311 3.121 2.375 1.204 0.687 0.326 0.284 0.427 12.734 8.704 8.704
2001 4.339 3.154 2.366 1.139 0.561 0.348 0.285 0.418 12.610 8.573 8.573
2002 4.447 3.156 2.469 1.045 0.590 0.355 0.286 0.440 12.787 8.582 8.582
2003 4.383 3.567 2.401 1.047 0.508 0.364 0.291 0.401 12.963 8.374 8.374
2004 4.419 3.713 2.233 1.109 0.614 0.372 0.307 0.388 13.157 8.302 8.302
2005 4.536 3.446 2.495 1.170 0.647 0.376 0.310 0.398 13.378 7.885 7.885
2006 4.414 3.566 2.546 1.186 0.686 0.376 0.316 0.398 13.488 7.835 7.835
2007 4.368 3.626 2.583 1.185 0.736 0.376 0.311 0.417 13.603 7.843 7.843
2008 4.110 4.774 2.445 1.330 0.663 0.403 0.309 0.440 14.474 8.524 7.743
2009 4.025 4.740 2.211 1.278 0.626 0.415 0.297 0.430 14.022 8.992 8.029
2010 4.070 4.899 2.228 1.282 0.644 0.421 0.274 0.432 14.249 9.112 8.020
2011 4.105 5.064 2.334 1.257 0.664 0.425 0.272 0.421 14.542 9.411 8.236
2012 4.064 5.116 2.438 1.267 0.667 0.435 0.286 0.418 14.691 9.495 8.280
2013 4.027 5.124 2.509 1.285 0.670 0.445 0.296 0.409 14.764 9.749 8.445
2014 3.999 5.119 2.552 1.301 0.672 0.454 0.302 0.411 14.810 9.891 8.516
2015 3.988 5.101 2.586 1.325 0.675 0.454 0.308 0.419 14.856 10.004 8.585
2016 4.001 5.079 2.619 1.345 0.677 0.454 0.308 0.420 14.904 10.067 8.565
2017 4.037 5.067 2.654 1.366 0.680 0.462 0.314 0.423 15.001 10.232 8.670
2018 4.056 5.020 2.695 1.387 0.683 0.469 0.317 0.427 15.054 10.386 8.787
2019 4.120 4.998 2.741 1.407 0.686 0.478 0.322 0.430 15.181 10.603 8.957
2020 4.200 4.966 2.783 1.427 0.689 0.477 0.326 0.432 15.300 10.766 9.057
2021 4.292 4.935 2.813 1.446 0.690 0.475 0.328 0.430 15.411 10.894 9.099
2022 4.406 4.931 2.841 1.462 0.692 0.483 0.332 0.432 15.580 11.024 9.054
2023 4.485 4.885 2.880 1.476 0.694 0.491 0.334 0.457 15.703 10.957 8.976
2024 4.572 4.844 2.928 1.488 0.698 0.500 0.336 0.486 15.852 10.998 8.963
2025 4.666 4.810 2.979 1.499 0.700 0.499 0.338 0.489 15.980 11.151 9.041
2026 4.762 4.788 3.031 1.509 0.703 0.504 0.343 0.491 16.130 11.296 9.104
2027 4.855 4.773 3.081 1.518 0.706 0.509 0.343 0.495 16.279 11.482 9.185
2028 4.919 4.734 3.129 1.526 0.708 0.513 0.346 0.500 16.375 11.528 9.149
2029 4.992 4.708 3.177 1.535 0.710 0.518 0.349 0.500 16.488 11.626 9.166
2030 5.088 4.708 3.230 1.543 0.712 0.523 0.350 0.502 16.656 11.699 9.149
2031 5.182 4.704 3.281 1.552 0.713 0.518 0.354 0.502 16.807 11.806 9.122
2032 5.268 4.696 3.331 1.559 0.715 0.518 0.355 0.505 16.946 11.936 9.149
2033 5.380 4.715 3.386 1.565 0.718 0.518 0.357 0.505 17.144 12.200 9.304
2034 5.474 4.720 3.444 1.573 0.720 0.518 0.359 0.507 17.315 12.301 9.278
2035 5.567 4.729 3.507 1.580 0.722 0.523 0.361 0.508 17.496 12.339 9.234

Sources:
1973-2007 from Davis, S.C. and Diegel, S.W., "Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 28," Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 2009.
2008-2035 from EIA, "Annual Energy Outlook 2010," Energy Information Administration, DOE/EIA-0383(2010), U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC, 2010.

 

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