Crude oil-bearing supertankers are encountering longer waits outside of Chinese ports, highlighting the country’s buy-up of oil amid forecasts of slower economic growth, Bloomberg reported, citing vessel-tracking data. At least 19 two-million-barrel-capacity ships were stationed off China’s coast for two weeks or more this month due to a lack of space in some storage tanks. China’s purchases have jumped almost 10% this year from 2014, and could help keep prices from a greater fall. It has acquired 200 million barrels of crude in its reserves as prices slumped, and intends to have 500 million by the decade’s end, according to the International Energy Agency.
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