Oil demand in China edged up a measly 0.9% in October

Gasoline demand growth rebounded to 14.5%.

According to HSBC, China's apparent oil demand rose 0.9% y-o-y in October. The inventory adjusted demand numbers were even better at 3.8% y-o-y.

"We have highlighted in our last publication that demand growth should improve sequentially as purchases were deferred to October on expectation of a month-end price cut which materialized," HSBC said.

Here's more from HSBC:

October inventory adjusted oil demand was primarily driven by gasoline demand growth which rebounded to 14.5% y-o-y. Middle distillate demand increased 2.6% y-o-y, second highest in 2013, disregarding the distorted data for January-February. We expect y-o-y growth to moderate in November-December as demand was elevated last year in the corresponding period.

Ytd oil demand is up 3.6% y-o-y, marginally higher than September. Our full-year 2013 growth estimate remains c.3% y-o-y.

After maintenance completion, refining throughput in October increased 2.9% m-o-m to 9.94mmbbl/d. Increased throughput resulted in lower oil product import and higher diesel export.