ABSTRACT
We have already examined in Part I the overall role that demand for oil plays in determining the expansion of the world's proven reserves of petroleum and also how, to some degree, the pattern of production changes according to the differential development of demand in various parts of the world. It can be seen very clearly, for example, that the increasingly intensive use of oil in the Soviet Union under the impact of a rapidly expanding economy and a change-over from the use of coal to the use of oil has led to the decision to develop oil production more intensively in the U.S.S.R. in recent years than in most of the rest of the world, so that the share of Soviet output in the world total has increased from 6 to 13 per cent, in the decade 1950–60 and is still increasing at about the same rate. It would, however, be unwise to look always for direct relationships in growth between production and consumption on a regional basis, as this would mean discounting the impact of some of the political and organizational factors that were also shown in Part I to contribute significantly to determining the pattern of production.
