Reference News Network reported that the U.S. media said, “forget the oil price fell below $50 a barrel and the fact of the U.S crude oil reserves rising." Asia, which accounts for more than half of the world's population and is expected to grow by 40% in 2020, has seen signs of a pick-up in demand for crude oil.

According to Bloomberg News website reported on March 14th, for a long time, the oil exporting countries has having "unrequited love" with Asia. Over the years, Saudi Arabia and Russia have been fighting “a proxy war” for China's market share.

For most of last year, Asia seemed reluctant to respond to the "enthusiasm" of oil exporters. The oil demand of the three biggest importers in Asia (India, Japan and China) has experienced three stages: strong, weak and tepid.

But now things seem to have changed. In recent months, the difference between the European benchmark Brent crude and the Asian benchmark Amman Dubai crude is narrowing. According to a weekly survey, last week, the difference between the two had fallen to its lowest level in 18 months. Today, Amman Dubai crude oil is about 88.5 cents more expensive than Brent crude per barrel. This is the first such high price for Amman Dubai crude since 2014.

Last December, Japan's oil imports stood at 17 billion 800 million litres, the highest level since March 2015. Its oil imports in January was 17 billion 100 million litres.