The BP Statistical Review of World Energy is now 62 years old.  It is the longest running compilation of global energy statistics available.

Collected down the years, it has become widely recognized as a key source of data on energy markets, useful to business, policy, academia, journalists and the public alike. It seems fair to say that it has become a crucial resource, underpinning with facts discussions about energy or the environment.

Over the past 62 years, the Review has expanded from six typewritten pages plus one page for graphical illustrations to an internet database that can be used for very detailed analysis. Behind the published data are about 400,000 single data entries - at the last count, and growing every day, of course. Yet, in a world ever more concerned with the commercial value of data, it is freely available to all who wish to use it. Above all, there is no wishful thinking, no politics and no spin. It is simply a portrait in numbers of global energy production, consumption, trade, reserves and prices.

These numbers contain the story of energy in the last half of the 20th century and the beginning of this one. They illustrate global transitions in the fuels we use and how we use them, and our preoccupations and concerns about this important element of the global economy.