Chinese demand for crude oil tankers up 42 % in the three months
China's demand for oil tankers rose 42 percent in the three months to the end of April as the country boosted purchases from South America and West Africa, driving up voyage distances, Fearnley Fonds ASA said. China's demand for oil rose to 355.1 billion ton miles, Lars Erich Nilsen, an Oslo-based analyst at investment bank Fearnley, said in an e-mail today. That's up from 249.5 billion ton miles in the same period of 2009, according to Fearnley's estimates. Ton miles measure shipping demand by multiplying the amount of cargo transported by voyage distance.
"Significant ton miles" are being generated by Chinese demand for oil from Venezuela, Brazil and West Africa, Nilsen and his colleague Rikard Vabo said in a note today.
China's economy expanded 11.9 percent in the first quarter, the fastest pace in almost three years. Its oil demand may rise 37 percent to 490 million tons in 2015 compared with 2007, data from the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook show. The world's most populous country is also the world's largest oil consumer behind the U.S. with demand buoyed by the government's US$586 billion in spending to support the economy.
China imported 21.17 million metric tons of crude oil in April, 31 percent more than the same month last year and the second highest for data compiled by Bloomberg that go back to January 2004. Countries in South America, Central America and West Africa accounted for 18 percent of the world's crude oil exports in 2008, according to data from BP Plc. The Middle East, the world's biggest oil-producing region, was responsible for 45 percent, the BP data show.
Returns from shipping West African crude to Asia have risen 14 percent to US$66,485 a day this year, according to prices from New York-based energy advisers Poten & Partners Inc.
"Significant ton miles" are being generated by Chinese demand for oil from Venezuela, Brazil and West Africa, Nilsen and his colleague Rikard Vabo said in a note today.
China's economy expanded 11.9 percent in the first quarter, the fastest pace in almost three years. Its oil demand may rise 37 percent to 490 million tons in 2015 compared with 2007, data from the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook show. The world's most populous country is also the world's largest oil consumer behind the U.S. with demand buoyed by the government's US$586 billion in spending to support the economy.
China imported 21.17 million metric tons of crude oil in April, 31 percent more than the same month last year and the second highest for data compiled by Bloomberg that go back to January 2004. Countries in South America, Central America and West Africa accounted for 18 percent of the world's crude oil exports in 2008, according to data from BP Plc. The Middle East, the world's biggest oil-producing region, was responsible for 45 percent, the BP data show.
Returns from shipping West African crude to Asia have risen 14 percent to US$66,485 a day this year, according to prices from New York-based energy advisers Poten & Partners Inc.