Refiners in China, the world’s top oil importer, have enough supply on hand to weather near-term disruption from the Iran conflict, reports Reuters citing traders. The supply is bolstered by recent record purchases of Iranian and Russian crude and robust government stockpiling.
China has around 900 million barrels in strategic inventories, or 78 days’ worth of imports, according to estimates by Vortexa and traders.
“The market is on edge and the situation could change by the day,” a senior trader with a large independent refiner told Reuters. A second trader at a Shandong province-based plant that processes Iranian oil said he “couldn’t bring himself to bid” as he could not gauge how the situation would evolve. That said, there is not much concern about supplies for March and April deliveries, with abundant Russian and Iranian barrels, the trader added.