The many faces of China’s oil demand

While economic weakness and the electric vehicles trend have hit oil demand growth, petrochemicals and jet fuel show more nuanced changes across the barrel

China is the world’s largest oil importer and second-largest consumer. Along with the US and India, it has been a key pillar of demand in recent months. Consequently, any weakness in its demand can significantly impact global oil prices. Even before the start of the tariff dispute with the US, China was dealing with the slow post-pandemic recovery, the real estate market crisis, the emergence of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and increasing petrochemical capacity. Now, it is facing slowing demand in the wake of weaker economic growth as US tariffs take effect. The IMF has revised China’s GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 4.0%, down from 4.6% in the January 2025 edition of the World Economic Outloo