While the World Scrambles for Oil, China Sits on Full Tanks

While the United States and Iran haggle over reopening the Strait of Hormuz and restoring oil exports from the Persian Gulf, China, the world’s largest oil importer, is not expected to quickly ramp up purchases from the region.If normal traffic through the strait fully resumes in the coming weeks, numerous tankers carrying oil bound for China that have been stranded in the Persian Gulf during the war would be on the move again.Their eventual arrival at Chinese ports is likely to produce a temporary surge in deliveries.China finds itself in a very different position from much of the world, which is emerging from the war in Iran with depleted oil supplies.

The crude stockpiles held by the country’s state-owned energy companies remain nearly full.Beijing appears not to have tapped its vast strategic reserves, and storage tanks at Chinese refineries are brimming with gasoline, diesel and other refined products.China cut its daily oil imports by roughly a third during the war.

The pullback, driven largely by higher prices, helped ease some of the upward pressure on global oil markets caused by the almost complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz.China was able to reduce imports so sharply in part because it had been buying more oil than it needed before the war.For years, it accumulated inventories whenever prices were low as part of a broader push to strengthen national self-reliance and improve its ability to withstand supply disruptions.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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