As we rolled into the very tumultuous 2026 with two major geopolitical events upending oil markets in as many months – the U.S. blitz to capture Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran – China’s oil hoarding will likely pay off in these early days of the unpredictable and already highly disruptive war in the Middle East. The Chinese strategy to build up reserves during a nearly year-long buying spree at relatively low prices is now paying off, as the world’s top crude importer has some buffer to power through the early days of the severely disrupted oil flows out of the Middle East, analysts say. But most of the remaining 166 million barrels, about 127 million barrels, are currently in the East, including the Malacca Strait, Singapore Strait, South China Sea, East China Sea, and Yellow Sea, while around 39 million barrels are located in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman, possibly en route to the East as well, Kpler notes.
Author: Tsvetana Paraskova
Published at: 2026-03-03 23:00:00
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