Oil demand in China, the world’s top crude importer, could peak as early as next year as the penetration of electric vehicles and LNG trucks is accelerating, state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said on Tuesday. At this time last year, CNPC expected a peak in oil demand coming to China by 2030. Now, after a year of EVs and LNG-fueled trucks displacing some gasoline and diesel demand, respectively, the peak in China’s oil demand may occur five years earlier, in 2025, according to a report by CNPC economists carried by Bloomberg. China’s oil demand growth has been slowing down due to weaker economic performance and a shift to electric vehicles and LNG-fueled trucks, oil industry executives said at the APPEC conference in Singapore in September. Although some of the weakness is attributable to weaker economic performance, the shift toward EVs and LNG trucks is removing some road fuel demand permanently, analysts say. China’s shift toward EVs will bring about domestic gasoline demand peaking either this year or next, according to Vitol Group’s CEO Russell Hardy. Click here to read more