Pent up demand

Is Cheap Oil Compatible with Growth?

Looking at barrels of oil per capita is a nonsense measure. Look at barrels per unit of GDP. The picture is probably a lot more sensible. Even then, if country A derives most of its GDP from energy intensive industries and country B does not, there can still be an imbalance.

It's similar to pollution. Most pollution has gone down over the last few decades in western countries while exploding in China and India. We pat ourselves on the back for being so responsible, when in fact all we really did was shut down our dirty industries and send them overseas.