With the Thursday data forwarded by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showing that the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerated to 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter, oil prices jumped above $78 per barrel.

After hitting a low of $76.76 on Tuesday, oil prices climbed on Thursday – with the US crude oil for March delivery witnessing a 30-cent increase to $78.04 per barrel; and the London Brent crude increasing 11 cents to $76.43 per barrel.

Remarking that China will apparently be the key driver of oil demand during the year, said Tony Nunan, a risk manager with Mitsubishi Corp., Tokyo, said: “For all of this year we are going to have a big focus on China. Because it is a command-style economy, things can change quickly. What was bullish could turn bearish if China puts on the brakes.”

Going by the 2009 statistics, China posted a 7.9 percent increase in crude runs – the quantity of crude processed by refiners - during the year; with its crude runs for the month of December soaring 24.8 percent year-on-year to a record 8.15 million barrels per day.

Noting that US crude prices touched $83.95 per barrel on January 11, the highest in the past 15 months, Nunan opined that in case the Chinese economy “just goes boom,” US crude can move even higher – with enough inventory around, and ‘surplus’ spare capacity.