China’s oil demand surges in July on heat, cars

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s apparent demand for oil climbed 12.2 percent in July, a fourth month of double-digit appetite expansion in the world’s number-two consumer, fuelled by a hot summer and booming car industry.

But a stepped-up government push to cool the overheating economy — including two interest rate rises in four months and public reprimands for errant officials — could pull growth down towards more moderate full-year expectations, analysts said.

Implied oil product demand was 6.67 million barrels per day (bpd), according to Reuters calculations based on official data.

This was below June’s 7.02 million bpd, but still far stronger than a year earlier when state-set caps on fuel prices pushed loss-making refiners to step up exports, causing shortages at home that limited consumption.

Reuters