The balance has been disrupted! China has begun to set global crude oil prices!

With the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran settled and shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz projected to return gradually to normal, a profound, far-reaching shift has reshaped the balance of power in the global energy market. The hidden driver of crude oil prices over the next several years will no longer hinge on production-cut agreements among major Middle Eastern oil producers, but rather on the "new normal" of China’s energy demand and the rational trading stance China demonstrates.

 

In this contest for crude oil pricing power, China has emerged as the invisible hand steering the entire market. During the height of the regional conflict, China’s sharp pullback in crude oil imports quietly acted as a market safety valve, averting a catastrophic spike in oil prices to $200 per barrel. Yet with the crisis in the strait now resolved, the long-anticipated surge in pent-up buying by Chinese importers has failed to materialize. Data from commodity intelligence firm Vortexa shows that China’s seaborne crude oil imports once plummeted to a decade-low of 5.9 million barrels per day. Though inbound volumes have recently stabilized at between 9 million and 10 million barrels per day, this figure remains well below the pre-conflict baseline of 11.5 million to 12 million barrels per day.

This delay in purchasing power marks the beginning of China's control over the crude oil market.
...... For more details, please visit the Special Plastic Horizon APP.