Oil Production and Consumption

The graph illustrates how much oil was produced and consumed every day in China, over a 24-year period starting from 1982.

Overall, China witnessed an increase in both the production and consumption of oil over the period shown. However, oil consumption rose significantly faster than that of its production.

At the beginning of the period, the figures for oil production and consumption were both around 2 million barrels per day. However, while the rate of oil consumption rose only slightly over the next eight years, to approximately 2 million barrels per day, oil production increased significantly per day to 3 million barrels per day in 1986, then remained constant until 1990.

From 1990 onwards, the amount of oil that was consumed per day saw steady growth to end up at just over 6 million barrels. Meanwhile, the rate of oil production continued to increase from 1990, but only marginally, ending up at approximately 3.5 million barrels per day in 2006, which was significantly less than the countries consumption rate.

(169 words)

Vocabulary

• Oil production and consumption (n)
• The rate of oil consumption (n)
• To remain constant
• Marginally (adv)