China's apparent oil demand grows in October

China's apparent oil demand rose 6.6 percent year-on-year in October to 41.28 million metric tons, or an average 9.76 million barrels a day (bpd), an analysis shows.

The October figure is the third-highest for the nation this year, according to the just-released analysis of recent Chinese government data from Platts, a global energy information provider.

Apparent demand is an estimate of domestic demand as opposed to counting barrels whose delivery has been reported and documented. Calculation varies from country to country. In China, apparent demand is defined as refinery output plus net product imports, adjusted for fuel oil and direct crude burning, smuggling and stock changes.

China's demand in October was slightly lower than the record 9.8 million bpd in September and the 9.77 million in February this year. The country's apparent demand in October continued to be sustained by a recovery in economic growth, the report said.

In September, China's oil demand rose 9.1 percent year-on-year, a rebound from the 1.5 percent year-on-year drop in August to 8.95 million bpd, the lowest recorded since September 2011.

National Bureau of Statistics figures show that China's oil demand in October was boosted by higher refinery output, which rose 6.7 percent to 9.44 million bpd compared with the same period last year.

Another factor contributing to the rise in October was a 3.8 percent year-on-year increase in net oil product imports to 1.37 million tons, Platts said.