New car sales boost gasoline use

摘要

Rising new car sales boosted Chinese gasoline consumption by 6.5pc last year, and apparent demand in January remained strong, with year-on-year growth of 11pc. The rising popularity of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) is capping fuel efficiency improvements and raising consumption of higher-grade gasoline. Imports of high-octane mixed aromatics, for use in gasoline blending, doubled last year to over 200,000 b/d. Chinese LPG sales have been growing by 20-30pc for the past six months, supported by an expanding petrochemical industry and a shift to using LPG rather than naphtha as a feedstock. Apparent diesel demand declined by over 200,000 b/d in 2016, but revived in January to an 18-month high of around 3.5mn b/d, as exports fell and more supplies were absorbed in the domestic market.