China Archives - Oil & Gas 360

The United States can see every barrel; it does not control where they go

June 2, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – The United States possesses the most capable financial surveillance system and the most sophisticated space-based intelligence architecture in the world. It can track cargoes leaving Iranian terminals, identify tankers operating without signals, reconstruct shipments conducted in the dark, and map the commercial networks moving those barrels across oceans. There is no

The Gray Swan Above the Strait: Power, leverage, and the illusion of control in Hormuz

May 13, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – If the first Gray Swan resides beneath Iran’s tanks and inside its reservoirs, the second flies openly above the Strait of Hormuz. This is the domain of leverage rather than logistics, of influence rather than infrastructure. It is where diplomacy, energy flows, and great‑power competition intersect—and where markets persistently mistake management

Trump, Xi to weigh tariff cuts on $30 billion of imports in managed trade push

May 13, 2026

(BOE Report) – The U.S. and China are expected to inch toward a managed trade mechanism for non-sensitive goods this week, with each side possibly identifying some $30 billion worth of goods on which they could reduce tariffs and sell to each other without crossing national security red lines. The so-called “Board of Trade” was first broached by U.S. Trade

A Trump-Xi deal could revive US energy exports to China

May 12, 2026

(BOE Report) – U.S. President Donald Trump will arrive in Beijing this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping on May 14 to 15, where U.S. officials say a deal for Beijing to buy more U.S. energy could be under consideration. Tariffs imposed during the U.S.-China trade war have halted most Chinese imports of U.S. oil and LNG, which

China’s LNG imports collapse to six-year low as prices surge

April 29, 2026

(Oil Price) – China’s imports of liquefied natural gas this month are expected to be the lowest since 2018, based on data from Kpler, Bloomberg has reported, citing soaring prices. April LNG arrivals are seen at 3.5 million tons, which would also be a 30% drop on a year ago, the report said. An earlier report by Reuters pegged China’s LNG imports

China’s oil giants begin selling crude as refinery cuts deepen

April 22, 2026

(Oil Price) – The trading arms of some of China’s biggest state-owned oil giants have started selling crude for May loadings in a rare move from the majors that have cut refinery rates in response to soaring oil prices and constrained crude supply from the Middle East. Sinopec, the world’s biggest refiner by capacity, and Sinochem Group have already sold

China’s April ethane imports from the U.S. set to hit all-time high

April 20, 2026

(Oil Price) – China is on track to import record-high volumes of ethane from the United States this month as Chinese and other Asian petrochemicals producers rush to secure replacement feedstock amid plunging naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply from the Middle East. China is expected to import as many as 800,000 tons of U.S. ethane in April, which

China added more crude to its massive stockpile in March, but outlook shifts: Russell

April 16, 2026

(BOE Report) – China continued to build the world’s largest stockpile of crude oil in March even as the rest of the world started to draw on inventories to compensate for the loss of millions of barrels from the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. China, the world’s biggest crude importer, had surplus oil of 1.74 million barrels per

Solid-state batteries could shatter China’s grip on global energy storage

April 16, 2026

(Oil Price) – The global battery sector is on fire – and we’re not just talking about lithium-ion battery explosions. In 2025, the global lithium-ion battery market topped USD $150 billion in 2025, marking a stunning 20 percent year-on-year increase. But current lithium-ion battery design has some key limitations, opening up a potentially massive market for competitive designs. One of the major

Petrochemicals in a volatile world

April 15, 2026

(By Oil & Gas 360) – The global petrochemical industry is entering a different phase, one where growth is still happening, but the rules are changing underneath it. Capacity is expanding in some regions, demand is accelerating in others, and geopolitics is reshaping flows almost overnight. At the same time, companies are being forced to balance cost, resilience, and sustainability

Saudi oil exports to China set to halve as war upends supply and prices

April 13, 2026

(Oil Price) – Saudi Arabia is expected to ship in May halve the crude volumes to China it supplies in April as the Kingdom hiked its official selling prices while part of the supply is trapped in the Middle East due to the war. Saudi Arabia, the single biggest crude oil exporter in the world, is expected to send about

Epic Fury’s win on paper, uncertainty in practice, and China’s quiet advantage

April 6, 2026

(By Oil & Gas 360) – Operation Epic Fury was meant to send a clear signal that the United States will act to protect global energy flows when they are threatened. In the immediate sense, it appears to have worked. The operation demonstrated speed and capability, reassured allies, and reminded markets that the U.S. remains willing to intervene when critical

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