GreenergyDaily

Mar. 10, 2026

China purchased more crude in the first two months of the year as the country continued to hoard oil to guard against supply disruptions.

The world's biggest buyer imported 96.93 million tons, a 16% increase from January-February 2025, according to customs data on Tuesday. The surplus is being used to fill commercial and strategic stockpiles that may need to be tapped if the US-Israeli war with Iran continues for any length of time.

Chinese demand helped prop up the global oil market in 2025, despite rising overseas supply and less consumption at home. The accumulated reserves should help cushion the impact of production curbs in the Middle East and a breakdown in trade that sent international prices hurtling toward $120 a barrel on Monday.

China has about 1.4 billion barrels of crude — or 190 million tons — in strategic storage, according to Erica Downs, senior research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. Even if all the country's imports from the Middle East were cut off, those stockpiles could cover the lost supplies for six months, she said.