chapter two - OAPEC

The second group comprises four countries with a per capita GDP less
than $2000. They were Sudan ($1599), Yemen ($1181), Djibouti ($1131),
and Mauritania ($1128).
2- Population: The average population growth in the Arab countries
during 2005-2009 was 2.36%, when the population of the Arab
countries increased from 312 million in 2005 to about 342 million in
2009.
3- Prices: Several Arab countries in the recent years have resorted to
raising the prices of oil products on the local market in order to reflect
the adaptation of abolition of prices subsidies policies, and in response
to the increase in international crude oil prices.
1-2 Energy Consumption by Source
The global financial crisis supported the downward trend in energy
consumption growth in the Arab countries. In 2009, Total energy
consumption in the Arab countries amounted to 10.6 million barrels of oil
equivalent per day (boe/d) compared to 10.2 million (boe/d) in 2008, an
increase of 3.2%.
Energy consumption in the Arab countries is increasingly dependent
on petroleum (oil and natural gas), which account for 98.2% of total energy
consumption in Arab countries in 2009. Oil continues to be the main source
of energy consumption in the Arab countries, despite the increasing use of
natural gas. Oil meets over half the Arab countries energy requirements,
accounting for 52.8% in 2009, compared with 45.4% for natural gas, 1.3%
for hydroelectricity, and 0.4% for coal.
Among non-OAPEC Arab countries oil plays an essential role in the
energy mix, accounting for 78.6% of their energy needs, compared with
50.3% in OAPEC member countries. On the other hand, natural gas plays a
bigger role in OAPEC member countries, accounting for 48.3% of their
total energy consumption, compared with 16.6% in other Arab countries, as
shown in Figure (1-16) and Table (1-18).
The disparity in energy consumption may be attributed to the differing
availability of hydrocarbon resources in the Arab countries.
OAPEC members accounted for 90.9% of total energy consumption in
the Arab countries in 2009 and other Arab countries for 9.1%.The growth
rate of energy consumption in OAPEC members was 3.1%, close to that of
other Arab countries (2.5%).