Wednesday 22 January 2025
 
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'GLOBAL DEMAND TO HIT 106mbpd'

China still driving oil demand growth says Aramco CEO

DAVOS, 12 hours, 42 minutes ago

China is still driving growth in global oil demand, the head of Saudi Aramco said, dismissing concerns about peaking consumption in the world’s biggest energy user.
 
“We still see good demand coming out of China,” Aramco’s Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Davos. The country, along with India, make up about 40% of the global consumption growth and, “demand is increasing year on year.”
 
His comments echo those he made back in October, saying he was bullish on China after a series of government stimulus measures aimed at reviving the economy. The optimism, however, contrasts with signals of an approaching slowdown, with even the country’s largest energy producer, China National Petroleum Corp., predicting oil demand may cease growing after 2025 as a shift toward electric vehicles gathers pace, said a Bloomberg Television report.
 
Last year, the Asia’s biggest economy’s oil consumption increased by just 180,000 barrels a day — less than a fifth of the growth seen in 2023 — as it grappled with an array of economic challenges, according to the International Energy Agency. Growth will pick up marginally to 220,000 barrels a day in 2025, the Paris-based IEA predicts, while remaining capped by signs of a deepening deflationary spiral.
 
The weakness was partly responsible for a 3 per cent decline in oil prices last year, outweighing geopolitical risks in the Middle East. Crude in London is 6 per cent higher this year following aggressive US sanctions on Russia.
 
Those restrictions are already starting to tighten the oil market, Nasser said.
 
Nasser said he expects global oil demand to rise by about 1.3 million barrels a day this year to 106 million a day. That’s slightly higher than the 1.05 million barrel-a-day growth forecast from the International Energy Agency.
 
The rise in demand will keep the oil market “healthy” and balanced this year, he said.
 



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