OREANDA-NEWS. October 19, 2011. China's implied oil demand rose a tepid 1 percent over a year earlier in September at about 8.9 million barrels per day, the lowest rate so far this year, according to Reuters calculations based on preliminary official data released.

Implied oil demand was calculated using China's refinery crude throughput plus net imports of refined fuel but excluding changes in fuel inventories, which China rarely publishes.

The slower-than-expected growth was partly because the National Statistical Bureau revised up crude throughput in September last year by nearly 2 percent to a record high by then.

Fuel demand in the world's second-largest oil user has since June eased off from the double-digit growth pace seen since late last year, as the Chinese economy grew less rapidly, but China still contributed more than half of the global incremental oil demand.