China's implied oil demand in September rose 8.3 percent from a year earlier to a record high 9.75 million barrels per day (bpd), Reuters calculations based on preliminary government data showed on Thursday.

The daily rate was nearly 8 percent, or 720,000 bpd, higher than the 9.03 million bpd in August, Reuters figures showed.

Implied demand is a combination of crude oil throughput and net imports of refined oil products, ignoring stocks changes, which are seldom disclosed by the government.