Asia Pacific + Middle Eastern Oil Analysis

Two popular explanations for the spike in the price of oil are the amazing growth we've seen in China (and the corresponding increase in consumption), and peak oil (which has caused flat or even declining production).

While I can already hear the argument that the chart above shows excess production has been halved in these regions over the past 10 years, the bigger story to me is production has largely grown lock-step with consumption since the overproduction of the late 1970's.

Source: BP

Update: the NY Times has an interesting article As Oil Giants Lose Influence, Supply Drops which details the more likely cause of high oil prices, namely our lack of western influence over the world market.