China seizes oil security opportunity

A combination of geopolitical uncertainty and OPEC+ barrels has driven a renewed focus on building strategic oil stocks despite flagging demand

China’s aggressive crude oil stockpiling this year shows both its geopolitical risk mitigation and economic opportunism. Although the country’s oil demand is expected to peak soon, it seeks to hedge supply disruptions from key suppliers Russia, Iran and Venezuela as well as trade tensions with the US and emergency planning related to potential military action in the Taiwan Strait. Some analysts have even speculated that China’s stock-building is part of a broader strategy to diversify its reserves by reducing reliance on US treasuries and shifting to tangible commodities such as oil and gold. The addition of more than 160m bl so far this year has shaped global oil market stability despite in