David Fickling, Columnist

China’s Oil Demand Is Vanishing Faster Than It Looks

Producers expecting to benefit from Beijing’s stimulus package should think again.

January 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM UTC

David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change and energy. Previously, he worked for Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

A shaky outlook for China’s oil demand. — A shaky outlook for China’s oil demand.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

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Is China still the best justification for ongoing crude demand, or the worst?

While most of the world remains fixated on the slow-motion car crash in its real estate sector, oil executives seem unruffled. “We are very bullish on China, and their demand picking up, especially with the big stimulus package coming out,” Saudi Arabian Oil Co. Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser told a conference in Singapore in October.