OREANDA-NEWS. May 07, 2014. Bernstein Research says it has revised down its Chinese oil demand forecast in 2014 to 10.30 million bbl/day from 10.40 million bbl/day on the back of weaker-than-expected demand in the first quarter.

China's oil demand in March rose 0.7% on-year with industrial output coming in 8.8% higher than last year. But its overall first quarter oil demand declined 3.0% from a year earlier to 9.7 million bbl/day, Bernstein says.

"The slowdown in oil demand appears correlated with weaker industrial activity in China as the effect of the stimulus unwinds and money supply growth stalls," it adds. Bernstein says China's crude-oil imports in the first quarter rose 8.3% on-year to 74.7 million tons, which went into filling the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.