Beijing, 30 November 2010

China's oil demand will grow by 5-6% over the next five years, a senior official at Sinopec, Asia's top refiner, was quoted as saying on Tuesday. China's oil products market will grow at a rate of 5-6% over the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), fueled by the economy's strong momentum that is likely to grow by 10% annually," the China Daily newspaper quoted Sinopec vice-president Cai Xiyou as saying.

His forecast implies a slowdown from the rapid oil demand growth seen in the last two years, which has surprised many analysts. In October, the last month for which figures are available, China's oil demand was up 11.3 percent year-on-year, according to Reuters calculations based on official data.

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