China’s Crude Oil Demand to Rise 14% by 2015, PetroChina Says

China’s crude oil consumption will rise 14 percent by 2015 compared with last year as additional refining capacity makes it more dependent on imports, according to PetroChina Co., the country’s biggest producer.

“The demand of crude oil in 2015 is projected to break through 500 million metric tons and it will reach 600 million tons in 2020,” according to a presentation yesterday by the company’s research department at the ARTC conference in Singapore. “Import dependence is expected to grow from 53.8 percent in 2010 to 62 percent in 2020.”

China consumed 439 million tons of crude last year and imported 236 million tons, according to the presentation. Oil imports are typically high-sulfur and heavy.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-01/china-s-crude-oil-demand-to-rise-14-by-2015-petrochina-says.html)