China's crude oil demand seen peaking at 705 million tonnes around 2030 - CNPC research

China's crude oil demand is seen peaking at 705 million tonnes a year around 2030, about 2% higher than an estimate made more than a year ago, according to a forecast by a research arm of state energy group China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).

After reaching the peak, China's crude oil demand will drop to 590 million tonnes by 2050, Jiang Xuefeng, deputy president of CNPC Economics and Technology Research Institute (ETRI), told an industry conference in Beijing on Thursday.

He added that China's demand for refined oil products will peak at about 380 million tonnes around 2030, mainly driven by gasoline and kerosene.

The research arm had forecast in September 2018 that China's total oil demand would peak at around 690 million tonnes a year by 2030.

Jiang also estimated that China's refining capacity would grow to 0.9-1 billion tonnes per year (tpy) by 2025 before stabilising. Its crude oil processing volume will peak at 750-800 million tonnes between 2025-2030, he forecast.

(Reporting by Min Zhang in Beijing and Emily Chow in Shanghai; Editing by Himani Sarkar)