The days of bounteous and low-cost oil are at an end. Since 2004, world crude oil production has been relatively static, averaging at just over 81-million barrels a day with production sitting at 82.09-million barrels a day (BP figures) in 2010. Further, new sources of oil are in increasingly far-flung locations, meaning that they are more and more challenging and costly to discover and produce.

Over the same period world crude oil consumption has outpaced production, averaging 87.39-million barrels a day, with consumption recorded at 87.38-million barrels a day in 2010 an increase of 2.67-million barrels a day over 2009. As a result the world is progressively relying on unconventional liquid fuel sources, such as extra-heavy oil, oil sands, shale oil and synthetic oil made from coal, natural gas and biomass, to augment liquid fuel supplies.

Even so, global liquid fuel supply is falling short of demand, resulting in high prices, which could endanger the recovery, and the subsequent sustained growth, of the global economy. This report gives an overview of the global liquid fuels market, which includes a review of consumption and supply trends, prospects for global synthetic fuels and biofuels development, and has a particular focus on South Africa's liquid fuels market.

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