The oil market has had a "remarkable three years" in the words of BP CEO Bob Dudley, with prices stable at around $100 per barrel as supply disruption in North Africa and the Middle East was matched by an unexpected increase in production from the U.S. 


(Read more: We are not in any discussions with Iran: BP Chief)


However, analysts have flagged several factors that could disrupt this delicate equilibrium, including declining growth in energy demand, sabotage in Nigeria and the lifting of sanctions on Iran. 



Global demand for energy will rise 41 percent between 2012 and 2035, or an average of 1.5 percent per annum, according to a BP report published last week. However, the rate of growth is seen declining during the period, from an average of 2 percent a year pre-2020, to 1.2 percent a year afterwards. 

BP noted that growth in energy demand between 2002 and 2012 was the strongest ever seen in a 10-year period — a trend it was not expecting to be repeated in the short-to-medium-term, thanks to increased energy efficiency. 

"That growth rate (between 2012 and 2035) is slower than what we have seen in previous decades, largely as a result of increasing energy efficiency… Energy efficiency promises to improve unabatedly, driven by globalization and competition," said BP. 

Furthermore, oil is expected to be the slowest growing fuel during the period, with demand growing at an average of just 0.8 percent per annum. 

"The oil market figures are staggering," BP Chief Economist Christof Ruehl told CNBC. 

"By 2035, OECD oil demand will be back to where it was for 1985, and if you take a sub-set, namely the European Union, that demand will be back to where it was in 1967… This does raise the very intriguing question: is it possible, and what are the possibilities under which, you can have sustained economic growth with declining energy demand?"