Despite upturn in renewables, fossil fuels accounted for lion’s share of 2023 global energy demand, Eni report finds

Italian energy giant Eni has published the 23rd edition of its global energy statistical review, the World Energy Review (WER). In line with the trends registered over the past few decades, the report identifies a stable growth in global primary energy consumption, with fossil fuels making up four-fifths of demand worldwide.

Eni’s World Energy Review 2024 shows the global energy sector’s evolution, providing an integrated perspective on this complex industry for the previous year. Alongside covering macro trends for oil, gas, renewables, and critical minerals, this year’s edition offers an overview of data on population, GDP, coal, power generation, and CO2 emissions.

Due to new challenges and increased uncertainties resulting from geopolitical tensions, 2023 was a challenging year for the energy market, the report states. Combined with economic weakness, this continues to pose a risk to growth prospects and future scenarios, whose complexity is said to be growing.

In this uncertain environment, global primary energy consumption in 2023 followed the trend registered in recent decades, growing at a rate close to 2% compared to 2022, with a largely stable energy mix.

In 2023, the world’s primary energy consumption reached around 15 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (Gtoe), with an approximate growth rate of 2%, in line with the trends over the past decades. Fossil fuels continue to account for about 80% of energy demand, with oil taking up 30%, coal 28%, and gas 23% of the energy mix. A rise was registered in the share of solar PV and wind, but at a level below 3%, it remains limited.

In the oil sector arena, 2023 saw an 18% year-on-year drop in prices, with OPEC+ actions managing to keep prices around $80/b. Demand continued to rise, growing by 2.3 Mb/d compared to 2022 to surpass pre-pandemic levels and reach 102 Mb/d, which is said to be driven by non-OECD countries.

Production went up by 1.8 Mb/d compared to 2022, reaching 96.6 Mb/d, said to be supported by non-OPEC countries. Global refining capacity increased by 1.8 Mb/d in 2023, which the report finds to be the most significant net increase in the last 20 years. The United States was by far the biggest oil producer, followed by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

As for gas, although prices at major hubs fell by around 60% in 2023 compared to the previous year, the global gas demand remained stable in 2023, rising by 0.1%. China saw a particularly significant increase in this regard, which was partially offset by a slowdown in the EU.

Much like other oil and gas titans – such as TotalEnergies and Equinor – Eni itself felt the financial repercussions of this, seeing a 46% drop in net profit in the first quarter of 2024 

Global gas production registered a slight increase in 2023, going up by 0.3% compared to 2022. While the United States and China were among the main contributors to this growth, Russia saw a decline. Regarding liquefied natural gas (LNG), global liquefaction capacity grew by 2% and regasification capacity increased by 6%. Like in oil, the United States topped the list when it comes to gas-producing countries, followed by Russia and Iran.

When it comes to renewable installations, particularly solar and wind, a “historic” high of approximately 2,400 GW globally was registered in 2023, continuing the exponential growth observed in recent years. Solar and wind accounted for 13% of the electricity generation mix, compared to 60% from traditional sources. Furthermore, global biofuel production increased by 8%, with the biggest growth seen in biodiesel.

As for energy-related CO2 emissions, they increased by around 1% in 2023, reaching a new record of 37.2 Gtonnes. The report considers China, which is said to account for one-third of global CO2 emissions, as one of the main culprits for this.

In line with global decarbonization trends, Eni recently joined the Coalition for LNG Emission Abatement toward Net Zero, known as the CLEAN Initiative, aiming to facilitate global assessments of LNG projects and share information on best practices to reduce emissions along the value chain. Another step in this direction by the energy giant was securing the UK government’s funding for a CO2 transport and storage project in Liverpool Bay.