Workers drill an oil well in Daqing, Heilongjiang province. China's domestic crude output will be about 210 million tons in 2013. Wang Jianwei / Xinhua

As China's economy gradually rebounds, its demand for oil will rise at a modest rate of 4.8 percent to 514 million metric tons this year, and imports will continue to grow, the CNPC Economic and Technology Research Institute said on the same day.

The country will import about 289 million tons of crude oil this year, up 7.3 percent year-on-year, according to a report released by the institute under China National Petroleum Corp.

The figure means that about 59 percent of China's crude oil demand will depend on imports in 2013.

"As the country's oil consumption increases, its dependency on foreign imports will continue to rise," said Qian Xingkun, the institute's deputy director.

Meanwhile, domestic crude output will be about 210 million tons.

The CNPC forecast is slightly lower than an earlier estimate by the energy research institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.

In November, Gao Shixian, assistant director-general of the institute under the NDRC, said China will import about 60 percent of the oil it uses in 2013.

China imported 269 million tons of crude last year, with a foreign dependency of about 57 percent.

The country's total crude consumption was 475 million tons, up 4.7 percent year-on-year in 2012, CNPC said.

International oil prices will fluctuate at a high level as they did last year, Qian said.

The average Brent crude price, the benchmark grade for more than half the world's oil, will be about $105 to $115 a barrel this year, according to the report.

 

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