Oil demand in the United States grew at the fastest pace in the world in 2013, outstripping China for the first time since 1999 as the world’s top economy reaped the benefit of the shale boom, oil major BP said on Monday. BP also said the United States recorded its largest-ever annual rise in production for a second year in a row at 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd). In its annual review of energy statistics, first published in 1951 and considered an industry benchmark, BP said U.S. oil consumption in 2013 grew by 400,000 bpd, the sharpest increase in the world, followed by China’s rise of 390,000 bpd, BP said. The consumption growth was led by an expansion of the U.S. industrial sector as the world’s top economy emerged from the 2008 financial crisis, BP Chief Economist Christof Ruhl said. At the same […]