OREANDA-NEWS. March 29, 2013. National People’s Congress this week introduced modest growth targets that have commodities investors worried, but the softer targets are unlikely to dampen the nation’s oil demand.

Barclays, in a note sent out Friday, estimates China’s oil demand is set to grow 5% this year.

China is the world’s biggest energy consumer and the world’s second-biggest oil consumer after the United States, according to the International Energy Agency.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said China consumed an estimated 9.8 million barrels of oil a day in 2011, up 400,000 barrels a day, or more than 4%, from 2010. China in 2009 became the second largest net oil importer in the world behind the United States.

Oil demand is on a rebound from a bottom in mid 2012, the investment bank said. Manufacturing activity is returning to a “mild expansionary phase,” helping by destocking and a recovery in domestic and export demand, Barclays said.

Moreover, auto sales have also recovered, despite purchase restrictions, and gasoline demand over the week-long Lunar New Year holiday was “robust,” the bank added.

The National People’s Congress on Friday elected Li Keqiang as China’s.