Summary Statement on Spain with Special Reference to the Energy Crisis.
Abstract
In 1973 Spain produced 5% of Europe's 15.6 million tons of oil. In Europe Spain ranked seventh in volume of production behind West Germany, Austria, Norway, Holland, France and Italy. Although in 1974 Spain's production increased due to a doubling of output in the Amposta field, and this would improve her ranking some-what among European producers, it is important to remember that European production is absolutely irrelevant in the global context. In the Western hemisphere there are five countries that produce more petroleum than all of the Western Europe states combined, in the Near East seven, in Africa 3, in the Far East three and in the Socialist Bloc 2. European petroleum production in 1973 was only 1/2 of 1% of world production. (In that year the Mid East countries has 38% of world production and 56% of the world's proven reserves--OECA figures.) Thus, in the geographic location of world petroleum production, Spain finds itself in the dangerous position of being a marginal portion of a marginal figure. A further complication in the Spanish situation is that the country has been industrializing very rapidly in the past 15 years and now must be ranked as a relatively industrialized country in terms of its oil needs. Within Spain the production-consumption equation resulted in a 98% dependency on foreign oil according to the government's own figures for 1973. Spain can take some small consolation from the fact that her dependent situation is shared by the other Western European nations although northern Europe's dependency will certainly be tempered in the future by the bringing into production of reserves in the North Sea.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 14, 1975
- Accession Number
- ADA081211
Entities
People
- William T. Salisbury
Organizations
- University of South Carolina