China is approaching its own peak oil Premium One significant headwind is Chinese consumers’ rising preference for bigger, heavier vehicles—a trend that has been reinforced by rising incomes and cheap oil over the past half-decade. (REUTERS) Nathaniel Taplin Share Via Read Full Story Big Oil has become used to a ravenous China. But Chinese energy companies are starting to look ahead to an overall peak in oil demand around mid-decade. Sinopec, China’s largest refiner, estimated in December that the nation’s demand for oil products will peak in 2025. While that might yet prove ambitious, a confluence of events over the past year suggests that the peak in China could still arrive before too long.