Kathmandu. China has long been prepared to deal with the oil crisis. But the disruption of key global shipping routes caused by the Iran war is now testing its resilience. <\/p>\n
Energy supplies from the Middle East have been disrupted as Iran threatens to attack ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz. This threat was issued in response to the US-Israeli attack. The blockade has created a global oil supply crisis. This is seriously affecting the Asian countries dependent on the Gulf. <\/p>\n
The Philippines has implemented a 4-day working week to save fuel, and Indonesia is looking for ways to prevent its limited reserves from depleting too soon. <\/p>\n
China, the world’s biggest oil buyer, is also feeling the pressure. But China is in a better position than its neighbors. Because China has prepared itself for any potential energy crisis through years of policy. <\/p>\n
China test clock<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n }<\/p>\n The global economy has been experiencing instability since the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran in late February. Since then, the price of oil has risen several times. It has reached about $120 a barrel. This is due to the attack on transportation and energy infrastructure and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s busiest oil transport route. <\/p>\n According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through the waterway every day. Due to this shortage, many countries are looking for alternative suppliers of crude oil outside the Gulf. While some are using their own reserves. <\/p>\n China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer after the US, consumes about 15 to 16 million barrels of oil per day, according to many market analysts. The oil is mainly used for China’s vast transportation network \u2014 cars, trucks and airplanes. A large part of it comes from abroad. <\/p>\n According to the EIA, the Gulf countries are a major source of oil for China. Oil imports from Saudi Arabia and Iran account for more than 10% of its total imports. Most of the country’s imported crude oil from Iran and the Middle East through the South China Sea is used as a fuel for factories and transportation, mainly in southern China. However, the northern part of China is mainly driven by domestic production and pipeline oil imports. These have not been affected by the Middle East war. <\/p>\n Russian oil accounts for about 5% of China’s total energy imports, although many Asian countries rely on oil from the Gulf. This makes Russia China’s largest oil supplier despite U.S. and European sanctions. Coal is also a major source of China’s electricity generation. It is abundantly available in China. China is the world’s largest coal producer. It accounts for more than half of global production. <\/p>\n Oil and gas account for more than a quarter of China’s total energy mix, according to estimates by Chinese state media. This makes it less reliant on these resources than in Europe and the United States. <\/p>\n Preparing for Hard Times<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n China has built one of the world’s largest oil reserves, taking advantage of years of low crude oil prices and abundant supplies from the Gulf, according to Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. Data from China’s customs administration showed that Beijing bought 16 percent more crude oil in January and February alone than in the same period last year. <\/p>\n Iran is a major supplier of cheap crude oil to China. According to reports, China buys more than 80% of Iran’s oil exports. Ship-tracking data from the start of the Iran war indicates that some of this oil is still reaching China. However, analysts differ on the size of China’s total reserves. <\/p>\n More than 46 million barrels of Iranian crude oil are stored in tankers in the South China Sea, according to trade analytics group Kepler. That’s equivalent to several days’ worth of energy. <\/p>\n According to Hansen, estimates indicate that China has accumulated reserves of about 900 million barrels. This is equivalent to about 3 months of imports. According to data from Columbia University, Chinese state media estimate that China has about 1.4 billion barrels of gasoline. “It’s unclear how much of the energy that China imports every day is being used and how much is being stored,” Hanson said. However, it largely acts as a strong safety net in the event of any disruption. \u2019<\/p>\n Despite its stockpile, Beijing has signalled that it will exercise caution over supply management in the near future. Chinese officials have ordered oil refiners to temporarily halt oil exports to keep domestic prices under control. <\/p>\n China’s efforts for self-sufficiency<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n }<\/p>\n China is a global leader in clean energy. Wind and solar power projects are rapidly developing across China. <\/p>\n Wind, solar and hydropower generated more than a third of China’s electricity in 2024. Since then, China has further expanded its renewable energy network, and it is estimated that more than half of the total installed capacity now comes from clean energy sources. This change will reduce the share of crude oil in China’s total energy consumption to 20 percent by 2024. <\/p>\n According to the International Energy Agency, it is unlikely that there will be a significant increase in oil demand in the future. China’s ambitious shift to renewable energy is not only beneficial for the environment but also helps insulate its economy from global risks such as the Iran conflict, according to energy economics researcher Roger Fuchs. “To some extent, China is fortunate that it started investing in renewable energy 25 years ago and is now reaping the benefits,” he said. \u2019<\/p>\n “Electric vehicles, which account for at least a third of new cars sold in China, have also helped the country become less reliant on oil,” said Rokshi from the University of Technology Sydney. \u2019<\/p>\n He says this means that when tensions rise in the Middle East, people driving electric vehicles in China will not be affected as much by gasoline prices. “Their transportation costs are separate from the international oil market,” he said. <\/p>\n However, this does not mean that the Chinese economy is completely immune to oil supply shocks. Rising fuel prices during energy crises can also push up the charging cost of electric cars. <\/p>\n Last week, the state-run China Daily reported that petrol and diesel prices rose by 695 yuan and 670 yuan per tonne, respectively. Rising oil prices for Chinese factories could also push up the costs of its large petrochemical industry. It produces plastics, fertilizers and other chemicals. <\/p>\n According to Rokshi, the war as the world’s largest energy importer will now cause the price of oil per barrel to rise. But China will have no choice but to bear this additional cost. \u2013translated from BBC<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kathmandu. China has long been prepared to deal with the oil crisis. But the disruption of key global shipping routes caused by the Iran war is now testing its resilience. Energy supplies from the Middle East have been disrupted as Iran threatens to attack ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz. This threat was issued in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":291355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45031,45044,45159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banner-news-en","category-international-news-en","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291358,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291357\/revisions\/291358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/media\/291355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}