China has reduced crude oil imports by about 25% from prewar levels to roughly
8.2 million barrels per day, down from around 11.7 million, according to Vortexa
estimates cited in the report. The drop, driven largely by reduced stockpiling
rather than demand destruction, has added unexpected supply to the global market
and helped keep oil benchmarks near $100 per barrel despite the Iran war.
State-owned refiners have also been reselling cargoes to overseas buyers,
contributing to weaker physical premiums, which have fallen from about $30 per
barrel in early April to as low as $1. Commercial inventories in China are still
rising, while strategic reserves are estimated at about 1.4 billion barrels. The
report says possible drivers include weaker-than-expected demand growth,
structural shifts such as EV adoption and coal-to-chemicals substitution, and
increased domestic supply, though the exact cause of the import decline remains
unclear.
