China's natural gas demand slows oil consumption

Growth in China's oil consumption slowed to an annualized rate of 1.7 percent in 2013 as stricter requirements on environmental protection drove natural gas demand, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The country's total consumption of oil reached 498 million tonnes last year. The 1.7-percent increase marked a decline of 2.8 percentage points compared to 2012, according to the report by the CNPC Economic and Technology Research Institute.

The growth rate is also sharply lower compared to an average rate of 6.7 percent during the first 10 years of the new century, when oil consumption boomed along with the country's rapidly growing economy.

The CNPC is the parent company of PetroChina and is the nation's largest oil and gas producer and supplier.

Wednesday's report also said that 58.1 percent of China's oil consumption depended on overseas supplies in 2013, unchanged from 2012. The report also forecast that oil consumption this year will continue to expand to 518 million tonnes, growing around 4 percent.

Oil consumption slowed last year as the government took a tougher stance on environmental protection following heavy air pollution affecting a large part of the country since early 2013.

The slowdown contrasts to a surge in natural gas consumption. The report estimated that China's natural gas consumption grew 13.9 percent in 2013 and that imports rose 25 percent to 53 billion cubic meters.

Duan Zhaofang, a researcher at the institute, predicted natural gas consumption will grow a further 11 percent this year to 186 billion cubic meters.