OREANDA-NEWS. April 10, 2014. China's apparent oil demand climbed by 3.1% to average 10.62 million barrels per day in February compared to a year earlier, according to a Platts analysis of Chinese government data released.

The change followed a "relatively large" year-on-year contraction of 6.4% in January, the analysis showed. Platts said analysts told them that the disparity between apparent oil demand in January and February could be due to reporting and accounting issues with Chinese data.

"China's oil demand is off to a slow start this year, on the back of slowing growth in industrial production and exports," said Song Yen Ling, Platts' senior writer for China.