Chinese oil demand plateaued last year amid surging electric vehicle sales and a slowdown in the country’s construction sector, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.
The finding represents a major shift for global oil markets. China accounted for 60 percent of global oil demand growth between 2013 and 2023. That rapid growth now appears to be over.
Total Chinese oil demand continued to grow in 2024, supported by higher demand from the petrochemical sector. But Chinese consumption of petroleum transportation fuels — gasoline, diesel and jet fuel — declined slightly last year, the IEA said.
“A plateau in China’s demand for fuels is significant, and unusual, because it is taking place [in] a middle-income country that continues to post robust GDP growth,” the IEA wrote in an analysis. “There is no historical precedent for a levelling off in the fuel demand growth trajectory at this stage.”
