China Energy Outlook 2020 - Flipbook - Page 37
The primary driver of growth in China’s petroleum use has been transportation demand and the
use of petroleum as feedstock in the petrochemical industry and for non-energy uses such as
asphalt and lubricants. The share of petroleum in total primary energy use has been relatively
consistent and was about 21% in 2018. After fairly slow growth in the 1980s, petroleum
demand in China began to rise steadily and reached nearly 570 Mt in 2017, with further
increases to over 600 Mt in 2018.
China’s official figures on petroleum consumption by sector understates the role of
transportation in the demand mix, as petroleum consumption is allocated to the sector in
which it is consumed instead of by the purpose of its consumption. For example, “Buildings”
use of petroleum, which is largely composed of LPG consumption for cooking and water
heating, also includes gasoline consumption by the occupants of buildings, thus inflating the
building total. Figure 1-17 adjusts the official figures by moving all transport gasoline use to the
transportation sector as well as jet fuel used in the public sector (e.g. government planes) to
transportation as well. With this adjustment, transportation use of petroleum rises from an
“official” 38% to 52%, with gasoline and diesel consumption nearly equal. Jet fuel consumption
has been increasing steadily with the expansion of China’s domestic and international air fleet,
and fuel oil use powers the shipping fleet.
Even so, personal and discretionary use of private cars (defined here as “privately owned
sedans”) still remains a fairly small proportion of total oil use, at 17% in 2017, although the
growing fleet now accounts for 74% of total gasoline consumption in the country. In 2012, by
contrast, private cars accounted for 11% of total oil use, and 57% of gasoline use.
Figure 1-17. Composition of China’s Petroleum Use (2017)
Note: Demand has been adjusted from the official figures by moving all gasoline for transportation to the transport
sector and jet kerosene for the public sector from buildings to transport.
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