Interesting Chart

A recent report from the Internation Energy Agency arges that large flows of investor capital don't explain the increases in oil prices. "OPEC production is at record highs and non-OPEC producers are working at full throttle, but stocks show no unusual build. These factors demonstrate that it is mainly fundamentals pushing up the price.”
As this chart from the Department of Energy shows, oil consumption patterns have been pretty moderate over the last few years and US consumption has slowed considerably.
Certainly this type of data lends credence to the view that speculation is driving the price of oil, rather than rampant growth from China.