China's oil demand is expected to increase faster amid better domestic economy, according to Zhu He, senior engineer of Sinopec's Economics and Development Research Institute.
The country's oil apparent consumption is estimated to increase five per cent year on year to 427 million metric tons in 2010, while its crude oil output will likely increase slightly from a year earlier to 193 million metric tons, with the growth rate smaller than demand growth.
Zhu predicted that China's dependence on foreign crude oil would increase in 2010, and its net imports of crude oil would exceed 210 million metric tons this year.
According to Zhu, the country's gasoline apparent consumption will increase 7.5 percent year on year to exceed 72 million metric tons in 2010, as demand surges from the country's auto industry.
The diesel apparent consumption is estimated to rise 7.7 percent year on year to 150 million metric tons, as demand from the industrial sector and transportation sector increases.
China produced 189.49 million tons of crude oil in 2009, down 0.4 per cent year on year. Crude oil imports in the same year reached 204 million metric tonnes, up 14 per cent year on year, which has led the country's dependence on external supplies to reach 52 per cent of its total.
