China is now the world's greatest oil power
economist.com
China is now the world's greatest oil power
1–10 of 38 posts
Re: China is now the world's greatest oil power
#2Re: China is now the world's greatest oil power
#3Isn't that pretty misleading? About the production that can be cranked up / lowered as per needs, so the US likely remains the biggest oil power.
Re: China is now the world's greatest oil power
#4Isn't that pretty misleading? About the production that can be cranked up / lowered as per needs, so the US likely remains the biggest oil power.
Not even close. 1) US has at least 4x lower oil reserves than China so it can't outlast China in a game of energy chicken, 2) US produces mostly light crude while almost all its refineries are for heavy crude so it can't even use the stuff it makes, 3) China has the ability to control its own industries like flipping a switch so they can halt oil-demanding (and refining) immediately to control 15% of the world's demand of oil which immediately impacts the entire world's price on oil, 4) they can get oil from Iran and Russia through the Yuan since everything you want is made in China so oil export controls don't work.
Re: China is now the world's greatest oil power
#5China = clicks nowadays I guess?
The US produces more oil products than anyone else by a large margin [1] and extracts more than anyone else [2].
[1] https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=709&t=6 [2] https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/crude-oil-producti...
Re: China is now the world's greatest oil power
#6The most fascinating thing about this is how oil futures markets were able to capture this while the media was endlessly blasting stories about oil shortages.
Anyone paying attention to oil prices since the start of the war has been confused about the total disconnect between oil future and the existential situation on the ground. Even the media seemed mystified by this.
Well, now we all know the answer.
Re: China is now the world's greatest oil power
#7Isn't that pretty misleading? About the production that can be cranked up / lowered as per needs, so the US likely remains the biggest oil power.
No, controlling supply isn't as important as controlling demand. If China wanted, we could all be paying 6, 8, 10 dollars a gallon right now causing real turmoil. Instead it's business as usual.
Re: China is now the world's greatest oil power
#8Isn't that pretty misleading? About the production that can be cranked up / lowered as per needs, so the US likely remains the biggest oil power.
It might be said that this article casts China as a "super capacitor" in that it can store and release massive quantities of oil at will.
It also has its own domestic oil production of 4.3 million barrels per day.
Re: China is now the world's greatest oil power
#9China = clicks nowadays I guess? The US produces more oil products than anyone else by a large margin [1] and extracts more than anyone else [2]. [1] https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=709&t=6 [2] https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/crude-oil-producti...
> This ability to turn oil demand on and off, ostensibly at low economic cost, allows the world’s biggest oil importer to move prices just as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (opec) and its allies have long done through their control of half of global output.
This is not about production. You should read the article and not only the title.
Re: China is now the world's greatest oil power
#10The most fascinating thing about this is how oil futures markets were able to capture this while the media was endlessly blasting stories about oil shortages. Anyone paying attention to oil prices since the start of the war has been confused about the total disconnect between oil future and the existential situation on the ground. Even the media seemed mystified by this. Well, now we all know the answer.
No, it's because oil is still transiting the strait. A select group of tankers has been bypassing the Iranian "blockade" and ferrying oil across for months now.
> US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday that the American military continues to escort barrels through Hormuz, and that about 13 million barrels a day are leaving the Gulf — half through the strait and half via bypass pipelines. US Central Command said on Wednesday that since early May, it has helped about 500 million barrels of oil leave Hormuz, suggesting roughly 5.6 million barrels a day over the period.
https://gcaptain.com/hormuz-oil-shuttling-trade-is-picking-u...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/05/us-secretl...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-16/dark-ship...
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-is-using-an-irani...