China's oil demand will grow 4.3% this year to surpass 11 million barrels per day, compared to 4.8% growth last year, the country's top energy group forecast on Tuesday. State-owned China National Petroleum Corporation sees the country's oil demand rising to 566 million tons, or 11.32 million bpd in 2016, some 460,000 bpd higher than last year, CNBC reported. The forecast, in an annual report released by CNPC's research institute, also put the country's net crude imports up 7.3% this year to 7.14 million bpd. China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, raised crude imports by nearly 9% last year, or an additional 540,000 bpd, largely to boost government and commercial reserves as oil companies took advantage of the nearly 70% fall in global benchmark prices from mid-2014 to end-2015. The CNPC demand forecast was higher than a recent report by the International Energy Agency that put growth in China's demand for oil products in 2016 at 3.1%, down from the 5.6% growth it estimated for last year.
