China’s Oil Demand Growth to Cool in 2024 as Recovery Fades

(Bloomberg) — Growth in China’s demand for oil will slow next year, a Bloomberg survey showed, casting a pall over an already disappointing global picture for 2024 as the impact of pent-up appetite for travel and consumption following the pandemic begins to fade.

The world’s top crude importer will consume an additional 500,000 barrels a day next year, according to the median of estimates from 12 industry consultants and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg — less than a third of the increase in 2023. Petrochemical feedstock such as naphtha, and liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, should account for most of the rise, along with jet fuel. Transport fuels such as gasoline, by contrast, are expected to become less significant as the electric-vehicle fleet grows.