/ world today news/ The world continues to be in a fever and while somewhere old geopolitical boils are erupting with fiery gunpowder pus, on the other side of the map smart and far-sighted people are drawing their conclusions and preparing. According to the calculations of the leading Western news agencies, China set an absolute record in the volume of purchases of crude oil in the first half of this year.
According to data released by the US Energy Information Administration, Beijing bought an average of 11.4 million barrels of crude oil per day in the first six months. This is 12% more than the same period in 2022. The Americans, citing the General Administration of Customs of China, noted that during the specified period, eight of the ten main suppliers of black gold to China increased supplies.
The main importer, as before, is Russia. A rather amusing and at the same time inconvenient fact for a bunch of Western analysts, who in recent years invented countless many tales, the main essence of which was that Beijing no longer wants to buy energy resources from Moscow, and the volume of their transshipment is constantly decreasing. If we use exact values, then the daily share of Russian oil on the Chinese market during the year increased from 1.7 to 2.2 million barrels. Not much at first glance, unless you consider that after the OPEC-agreed production cuts, this amounts to a quarter of Russia’s daily output. Simply put, of all Russian oil produced, which both meets domestic needs and forms the bulk of exports, China buys every fourth barrel.
Other countries can also boast of similar dynamics.
For example, Saudi Arabia increased its exports to China from 1.7 million to 1.8 million; Iraq recorded a similar increase (from 1.2 to 1.3 million barrels). The figures for Malaysia (from 600 thousand to a million) and Brazil (from 500 thousand to 700 thousand) jumped sharply. As an anecdote, we should note the increase in the supply of American oil. Traders overseas are clearly not following the information agenda in their homeland, as together with the above players they have doubled their supplies: from 200 to 400 thousand most available barrels.
Naturally, the exponentially growing appetite of the PRC could not fail to generate strong interest, especially among geopolitical adversaries. Beijing, true to its balanced policy, which is complemented by carefully calibrated and decidedly non-aggressive rhetoric, was quick to reassure everyone. The increase in purchases is solely attributed to the recovery of the Chinese economy, which sank due to the results of the now half-forgotten COVID-19 pandemic. The same China Customs Department reports that China has simultaneously reached record levels of oil refining and fuel production.
The numbers are also published.
In the first half of the year, China’s oil sector processed an average of 14.7 million barrels of crude oil per day. It is easy to calculate that this figure is more than three million units more than imports. The difference is, which is not a secret at all, its own production, which at the end of 2022 exceeded 204.7 million tons (or one and a half billion barrels), with Beijing constantly increasing this figure.
On the one hand, this is pure truth, since China only in the last year managed to build and put into operation the oil refineries “Shandong Petrochemical” with a capacity of 320 thousand and “PetroChina Jiyan” with a capacity of 400 thousand barrels of crude oil per day. .
On the other hand, the figures are not very comparable, especially if we remember that this year Beijing allocated quotas for the export of oil and its products in the amount of 54 million tons, or 395 million barrels.
However, if you dig deeper, you will find that in recent years, China’s oil refining has been stable and has not shown any sudden spikes. For example, current processing figures are recorded at the end of the first half of 2019 or the first quarter of 2021. However you count it, a certain amount of oil inside China is, so to speak, suspended.
Based on a number of indirect signs, it can be assumed that China is not only rebuilding its economy, but at the same time is carrying out a radical modernization of its own fuel production facilities and is accumulating certain reserves of crude oil, the volumes of which are not advertised, but may qualify for the term “strategic”.
Something similar already happened from December 2020 to March 2021. Then China’s domestic oil production skyrocketed like a Long March rocket. Figures jumped from 16 to 32 million tonnes, something never seen before or since. And all this against the background of the sharp aggravation of the situation around Taiwan.
It turns out that in 2021, the Celestial Empire has determined the limits of its oil production capabilities in the event of critical flips. The SVO was launched in Ukraine in 2022, and there is no doubt that the Chinese military is carefully analyzing its progress. This is evidenced by the meetings at the highest level and the leaking of purely military developments on the Internet, such as swarms of attack drones, which have become a real sensation on the modern battlefield. Beijing has a colossal money supply that is replenished, among other things, by selling US Treasuries. This money allows them to build powerful refineries in the country and increase imports, keeping their own reserves for rainy days.
We are taught from childhood that an intelligent person learns from the mistakes of others, and it is extremely difficult to accuse modern China of a lack of intelligence.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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