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"It’s difficult to find a very bright spot unless the government rolls out a new policy at the beginning of next year,” she said on the sidelines of the Financial Times Commodities Asia Summit in Singapore.
By Bloomberg December 3, 2025, 4:11:11 PM IST (Published)
Chinese oil demand is likely to remain subdued until at least the middle of next year, according to Janet Kong, chief executive officer of Hengli Petrochemical Pte.
"It’s difficult to find a very bright spot unless the government rolls out a new policy at the beginning of next year,” she said on the sidelines of the Financial Times Commodities Asia Summit in Singapore.
Asia’s largest economy is the world’s biggest importer of crude, but sluggish growth, trade wars unleashed by President Donald Trump and the continued electrification of its transport fleet are all damping consumption. Even petrochemicals, often cited as one of the few sectors where demand is rising, are struggling with overcapacity.
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Government policy remains a wild card for the Chinese outlook, said Kong, who heads the Singapore arm of Hengli, a private refiner. The market is watching the so-called Two Sessions, the annual meetings of the China People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, to see if there will be more stimulus, she said.
Any move by authorities to raise fuel export quotas for refineries could boost demand, Kong said. And China’s purchases for its strategic petroleum reserves might lift imports, but with inventories already high, it’s unclear how much further buying Beijing will do, she said.
"The urgency isn’t there, but the capacity, the ability is there,” Kong said. “So it means any SPR build will be a lot more policy-induced."
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