The International Energy Agency said that world energy demand could grow close to 33 percent between 2013 and 2040 with demand reaching a plateau in China, which has been the leading growth market in recent decades.
While China's demand levels off, demand in India will take off, the IEA said in its 2015 World Energy Outlook report released Monday.
"By 2040, China's net oil imports are expected to be five times those of the United States, while India's easily exceed those of the European Union,” the IEA said.
The price of oil is expected to reach $80 per barrel by 2020. However, while prices are low, markets will become increasingly vulnerable, given the point that only highly efficient producers will be able to stay in production. That means Asian markets will be the most vulnerable as production narrows to the most efficient producers, namely those in the Middle East.
"Reliance on Middle East oil exports eventually escalates to a level last seen in the 1970s,” the report says.
The report projects steady growth, but without a major shift for nuclear power, which is expected to continue with its current place in the energy mix.
Growth will vary from region to region with generation capacity reaching 10,570 GW in 2040 compared with 6,170 GW in 2014.
Capacity is expected to double in China and quadruple in India.
Meanwhile, nuclear and hydropower is expected to hold steady in its portion of the energy mix, while coal's share of the mix slips from 41 percent in 2014 to 30 percent in 2040. The difference will be made up by renewable power sources other than hydropower.
While the push towards more energy efficiency will be steadfast, the IEA says, low oil prices will undercut gains.
However, the scare over climate changes has already had a major impact on global power generation. “Renewables contributed almost half of the world's new power generation capacity in 2014 and have already become the second-largest source of electricity (after coal). The coverage of mandatory energy efficiency regulation has expanded to more than one-quarter of global energy consumption. The climate pledges submitted in advance of COP21 are rich in commitments on renewables and energy efficiency, and this is reflected in the WEO-2015 finding that renewables are set to become the leading source of new energy supply from now to 2040. Their deployment grows worldwide, with a strong concentration in the power sector where renewables overtake coal as the largest source of electricity generation by the early-2030s. Renewables-based generation reaches 50 percent in the EU by 2040, around 30 percent in China and Japan, and above 25 percent in the United States and India,” the IEA said.