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CNPC's think tank predicts that China's oil demand will increase by 1.1% by 2025.

CNPC's think tank predicts that China's oil demand will increase by 1.1% by 2025.

China's oil demand will increase by 1.1% to 765 millions metric tons in 2025, a think-tank affiliated with the state energy company China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) announced on Tuesday. This is due to a better than expected growth of the economy and an increasing demand for petrochemicals.

According to Wu Mouyuan of the CNPC Economics and Technology Research Institute, China's plastic consumption per capita is still around 60% less than that of developed nations.

Wu said that China's booming electric vehicles (EV) sector will also drive the consumption of plastics. Plastics are used more in EVs than gasoline vehicles.

Wu stated that the use of transportation fuels has reached its peak.

He said that alternative energy sources would grow faster than was previously believed, and electric vehicles and LNG trucks will be owned by more people than they are now. By 2030, the rates of ownership for both these technologies will rise from less than 10% today to over 30% and 15% respectively.

According to CNPC, Brent oil prices are expected to fall from $79 per barrel in 2024 to a range between $65 and $75 this year due to a slowdown in the global economy.

Brent will be between $60 and $70 in the base scenario from 2026 until 2030.

The policies of U.S. president Donald Trump could have a major impact on the global market and tighten supply.

The Trump factor is the biggest uncertainty on the oil market, Wu said. He cited Trump's harsher sanctions against Iran and his threat of 25% tariffs for countries that buy oil from Venezuela or Russia. Reporting by Siyi Liu from Singapore and Colleen Waye in Beijing, with editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman & Kim Coghill

(source: Reuters)