World, major exporting regions

Figure 3.8 shows the major oil trade movements (imports and exports) in 2006 13.8 Gb of crude oil and 4.4 Gb of oil products were traded worldwide, around 60% of world crude oil production. In 2005, the USA and Europe each accounted for 27% of total imports (crude oil plus products), followed by Japan with 10% and China with 7%. The most important export regions were the Middle East with 40% of total exports, followed by Russia with 14% and West Africa (Nigeria) with 9%. While pipelines dominate the transport of oil within the continents, and countries, tanker transport dominates intercontinental transport (Middle East to Europe, Asia and America, Africa to Europe and America, and South America to North America) with a share of 75% to 80% (BGR, 2003). 

In the developing regions of the world, almost all of the sucrose production is from sugar cane. Production far exceeds consumption in Central and South America and is slightly higher than demand in Africa. Table II lists the 11 major exporters of sucrose that account for 75% of the total exports of world producers. On the basis of the following assumed stoichiometry,... 

Close to 90% of world ammonia production is processed in or used in the countries where it is produced. The remaining 10% to 12% of production enters international trade. The major net exporters in 1997 were Russia and the Ukraine (43% of world exports), Trinidad (22%) and the Middle East (13%). The predominance of the exports from gas-rich regions is evident. The major net importers were the USA (43% of world imports), Western Europe (26%) and certain Asian countries. Most of the ammonia that is traded is used to make fertilizers, but considerable quantities are used to produce industrial chemicals36. 

Figure 4. Relationship between log of population density and log of total nitrogen export from regions of the North Atlantic basin (top, a) and of nitrate in the major world rivers (bottom, b). Both relationships are significant, but the relationship for nitrate fluxes in the World s rivers (bottom) is more significant, has lesser scatter and has a steeper slope. For TN fluxes in the North Atlantic basin (top), logTN = 2.2+0.35 og(population density) r = 0.45 p = 0.01. For nitrate fluxes in the World s rivers (bottom), logN03 = 1.15 + 0.621og (population density) r - 0.53 p — 0.00001 (Howarth, 1996).

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