Market and consumption of oil in China in the first half of 2020: preliminary review

Abstract

China’s oil consumption in 2020 faced multifaceted impact of numerous factors, namely COVID-19 global spread, decrease of industrial production and hydrocarbon consumption, global consumption market shrinking etc. Power production is set as one of the sectors, most crucial for implementation two-stage plan for China’s socialist modernization by 2050. This strategy’s major task is decreasing of coal overwhelming consumption in favor of hydrocarbons. Importing three-quarters of consumed oil, China forms leading trends in global oil transportation, par excellence, for its leading partners: Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. 2020’ decrease in oil consumption has had negative impact not only on energy sector per se, but also simultaneously on the wide spectrum of industrial production on a par with transportation, for example, coastal port logistics. Nevertheless, both upstream and downstream oil sectors could rebound post-COVID fast recovery in coming months, which helps to avoid endangering China’s long-term plans of development.