BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec.16
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
China’s oil demand is anticipated to grow by 0.35 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2019 and by 0.31 mb/d in 2020, Trend reports citing OPEC’s December Oil Market Report.
“In 2019, oil demand growth is projected to be slightly slower than 2018 as economic activities cooled down as compared to last year. Vehicle sales and slower manufacturing activity have also impacted petroleum product demand during the current year. In 2020, oil demand is projected to slow further in China as compared to the current year largely in line with lower economic projections as compared to the current year. Additionally, a continuation of fuel quality programs targeting fewer emissions as well as on going fuel substitution with natural gas and coal are assumed in the 2020 projections,” reads the report.
According to the OPEC estimates, Chinese oil demand rose in October 2019 by around 0.35 mb/d y-o-y after rising by around 0.22 mb/d y-o-y in September 2019. “Total petroleum product demand reached around 13.2 mb/d in October. Oil demand growth was determined by rising jet/kerosene, naphtha and diesel.”
Jet/kerosene added around 0.11 mb/d y-o-y in October in line with positive air traffic data, said the cartel.
“Air passenger traffic increased more than 5 percent during the Golden Week, which is in comparison to a nearly 9 percent increase during the same month last year, depicting slower consumer spending. Naphtha demand growth hovered around 0.06 mb/d y-o-y in October 2019 amid solid naphtha margins mainly during the first half of the month. Naphtha performance has been very steady with an average increase of 5.5 percent y-o-y so far in 2019. Diesel oil gained momentum in October after more than 20 months of consecutive declines, adding around 0.07 mb/d y-o-y.”
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