World oil demand growth to be led by Asia - IEA

By David Sheppard

LONDON (Reuters) - China and India will be responsible for most of the world's oil demand growth over the next two decades, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.

The agency's annual World Energy Outlook said if government policies stay as they are, Indian oil demand is likely to rise by 3.9 percent every year until 2030, while Chinese demand will rise by 3.5 percent annually over the same period.

This compares with just 1 percent year-on-year oil demand growth for the world as a whole. Most industrialised economies in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will see demand fall due to greater energy efficiency.

"India is going to overtake Japan by 2020 as the third largest oil and gas spender (consumer)," IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol told a news conference.

"China will overtake the United States by 2025 to become the world's largest oil and gas spender. The top three (energy consumers) will be China, the United States and India."

Chinese oil demand is expected to more than double to 16.3 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2030 from 7.7 million bpd in 2008, while Indian demand is seen jumping from 3 million bpd in 2008 to 6.9 million bpd in 2030.

NON-OECD