China’s apparent oil demand rose 2.6% over the first two months of this year to 83.92 million mt or an average 10.43 million b/d, Platts estimates showed Monday, March 16, based on recently released government data. This is the highest rate of growth over the period since the 5.7% recorded in 2012. Last year, there was a 0.6% year-on-year contraction in China’s apparent oil demand over January to February. China does not release official data on oil demand, or commercial and strategic oil inventories. Article continues below… In every economic cycle, overexpansion is followed by unprofitability, then consolidation. Will this be true for the refining sector? The Asian Refining Summit sets a global agenda, inviting industry leaders to share views on the critical developments affecting the downstream and trading communities. Platts calculates apparent oil demand based on data on refiners’ crude throughput and net […]