China may overtake the US as the largest oil consumer globally in the early 2030s as emerging countries will lead growth in oil consumption in the next decades, the International Energy Agency said in a report yesterday.
Global oil demand will jump 16 percent within the next 25 years to 104 million barrels a day in 2040 from 90 million barrels last year, the IEA said in its latest World Energy Outlook report.
Developing countries in Asia will account for 60 percent in the growth of total demand in the period, the IEA said.
"A landmark will be reached in the early 2030s when China becomes the largest oil-consuming country, crossing paths with the United States," said the Paris-based IEA.
Established under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development framework, the IEA mainly serves OECD's 34 members while also working closely with non-members such as China, Russia and India.
"For each barrel of oil no longer used in OECD countries, two barrels more are used in the non-OECD," the IEA said, adding that consumption in industrialized economies will shrink, with oil use in the US falling to the lowest level in decades.
Data from the US Energy Information Administration and China's National Bureau of Statistics showed that China's total energy consumption, including fossil and renewable energy, exceeded the US' by about a third in 2013.
