China's oil demand to rise as economy picks up

Higher consumption comes as refineries finish maintenance, stockpile for winter

China's demand for oil is likely to show its largest increase in two years in the fourth quarter as the country's economic growth begins to pick up, according to industry experts.

"Most domestic refineries completed maintenance work in the first three quarters and started to stockpile for the winter," said Liao Na, information and operating director of ICIS C1 Energy, a Shanghai-based energy consultancy. "As a result, the demand for oil has been increasing in the fourth quarter."

The international price of oil meanwhile remains relatively low - around $80 a barrel - making now an opportune time for China to import more of the resource, she said.

According to official figures, the price of light sweet crude oil, a benchmark used for oil prices, was about $85 a barrel on Thursday.

In the fourth quarter, China is expected to use 9.64 million barrels of oil a day, which would result in the largest quarterly increase since the same period of 2010, according to the International Energy Agency and Sanford C Bernstein & Co.

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