China is still driving growth in global oil demand, Saudi Aramco's Chief Executive Officer, Amin Nasser, said, dismissing concerns about peaking consumption in the world’s biggest energy user.

"We still see good demand coming out of China," Nasser stated in the interview with Joumanna Bercetche on Bloomberg Television at Davos. The country, along with India, makes up about 40 per cent of global consumption growth, and "demand is increasing year on year."

His comments echo those he made back in October, where he expressed optimism about China following a series of government stimulus measures aimed at reviving the economy. However, this optimism contrasts with signals of an approaching slowdown, with even the country’s largest energy producer, China National Petroleum, predicting that oil demand may cease to grow after 2025 as the shift toward electric vehicles gathers pace.

Last year, Asia’s biggest economy saw its oil consumption increase by just 180,000 barrels a day–less than a fifth of the growth seen in 2023–as it grappled with a range of economic challenges, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Growth is expected to pick up marginally to 220,000 barrels a day in 2025, the Paris-based IEA predicts, while remaining capped by signs of a deepening deflationary spiral.

This weakness was partly responsible for a 3 per cent decline in oil prices last year, outweighing geopolitical risks in the Middle East. Crude prices in London are 6 per cent higher this year following aggressive US sanctions on Russia.

Those restrictions are already beginning to tighten the oil market, Nasser noted. He expects global oil demand to rise by about 1.3 million barrels a day this year to 106 million barrels a day. That’s slightly higher than the 1.05 million barrels-a-day growth forecast from the International Energy Agency.

The rise in demand will keep the oil market "healthy" and balanced this year, he said.