For decades, China has been the leading driver of global oil demand growth thanks to an economy that maintained a blistering growth clip for a long stretch. China’s economy managed to expand at nearly 10% annually ever since Beijing embarked on economic reforms in 1978, ballooning from $1.2 trillion by the turn of the century to nearly $18 trillion in 2021. But as the law of large numbers dictates, that era of exemplary growth could be in the rearview mirror. Economic pundits have predicted that China’s growth rate will slow down to between 2 and 5 percent in the coming years thanks to a declining population and slowing productivity.
