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London, Apr 10: Chinese oil demand growth continues to surpass expectations, underpinning high world oil prices, the International Energy Agency said on Friday.
London, Apr 10: Chinese oil demand growth continues to surpass expectations, underpinning high world oil prices, the International Energy Agency said on Friday.
In its monthly Oil Market Report, the Paris-based agency revised up its estimate of Chinese first quarter oil demand by 180,000 bpd to 6.1m bpd, representing growth of 18% growth from the same period last year.
“Robust end-user demand and the reappearance of tight primary stocks, including localised product shortages, suggest that second-quarter apparent demand may again exceed expectations, despite seasonal maintenance at several large refineries,” it said.
China , now the second largest oil consumer after the US , saw imports rocket to a record 3.2m bpd in February, up 283,000 bpd from January, it further said.
Average ’03 Chinese imports of crude and products were 2.1m bpd compared to an average in the first two months of this year of 3.1m bpd. The agency raised its forecast for ’04 growth in world oil demand by 60,000 barrels a day to 1.7m bpd on the 80.3m bpd world market.
It was the fifth successive monthly increase in the IEA’s world oil demand projection. The forecast for ’04 has risen from 1.1m bpd since the IEA’s report in November.
Bureau Report
“Robust end-user demand and the reappearance of tight primary stocks, including localised product shortages, suggest that second-quarter apparent demand may again exceed expectations, despite seasonal maintenance at several large refineries,” it said.
China , now the second largest oil consumer after the US , saw imports rocket to a record 3.2m bpd in February, up 283,000 bpd from January, it further said.
Average ’03 Chinese imports of crude and products were 2.1m bpd compared to an average in the first two months of this year of 3.1m bpd. The agency raised its forecast for ’04 growth in world oil demand by 60,000 barrels a day to 1.7m bpd on the 80.3m bpd world market.
It was the fifth successive monthly increase in the IEA’s world oil demand projection. The forecast for ’04 has risen from 1.1m bpd since the IEA’s report in November.
Bureau Report