China Oil Imports and Production

China's oil balance

China consumes about 17 million b/d of oil, second only to the US, and produces only about a quarter of that. The gap is filled by imports, which makes Chinese buying the single most important source of demand on the world crude market. The IEA estimates Chinese oil demand at 16.73 million b/d in 2024 and 16.95 million b/d in 2025.

Domestic production

Chinese crude output rose 1.8% in 2024 and 1.5% in 2025 to a record, and was up 0.9% year on year in January–August 2026, according to the NBS. Most comes from mature onshore fields such as Daqing and Changqing and from offshore Bohai Bay, operated by PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC. State companies keep investing to slow decline, but domestic output cannot keep pace with demand, so import dependence stays above 70%.

Record imports and main suppliers

China's crude imports reached a record 577.7 million tonnes in 2025, up 4.4%, with a monthly record of 13.18 million b/d in December 2025. Russia was the largest supplier in 2024 with 20% of imports, followed by Saudi Arabia with 14%, according to the EIA. In 2025 Russia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Iraq and Brazil together supplied 62% of imports, Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy found.

Official customs data recorded no imports from Iran. But "Malaysian" crude imports were about 1.3 million b/d in 2025, more than twice Malaysia's own production, because Iranian and Venezuelan cargoes are transferred between ships off Malaysia and relabelled. Columbia estimates sanctioned crude made up more than 22% of China's imports in 2025. See the Iran oil exports and Russia oil production pages.

Strategic and commercial stockpiles

China does not publish its stock levels. Satellite-based estimates from Kpler put onshore crude stocks at a record of about 1.2 billion barrels around the start of 2026, about 104 days of net imports. China added crude to storage at about 430,000 b/d in 2025, against 84,000 b/d in 2024, according to Rystad Energy. That stockpiling supported prices in 2025, when buying for storage absorbed part of the surplus.

Teapot refiners

Independent refiners, known as "teapots" and concentrated in Shandong province, buy most of China's sanctioned crude. The EIA says about 90% of Iranian crude reaching China goes to them. They depend on government import quotas, which stood at 1.9 billion barrels for non-state companies in 2025. In 2025 the US Treasury sanctioned a Shandong teapot refinery, Shandong Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical, for buying Iranian oil.

China and the 2026 Iran war

A large share of China's crude imports, from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and other Gulf producers, normally passes through the Strait of Hormuz. After Hormuz was disrupted from 28 February 2026, Chinese crude arrivals fell to 7.9 million b/d in April, down 3.6 million b/d from February, according to Kpler data cited by the IEA. China at first kept building stocks, then on 10 April authorised state companies to draw on reserves held for the government. It also banned fuel exports and issued 55 million tonnes of extra import quotas to independent refiners. Refiners cut runs as price controls squeezed margins: crude processing was down 6.6% year on year in January–August, the NBS reports. The IEA said non-OECD stocks fell by 52 million barrels in August, led by China.

Peak fuel demand and what it means for prices

China's transport fuel demand has stopped growing. The IEA estimates gasoline use at 3.65 million b/d in both 2024 and 2025 and forecasts a 2.7% fall in 2026, as electric vehicles spread: China produced 16.5 million new-energy vehicles in 2025, up 25%. Future demand growth depends mainly on petrochemicals. That matters for prices because China supplied much of the world's oil demand growth in the 2000s and 2010s. Slower Chinese growth, combined with its ability to draw down or build huge stocks, now shapes both the floor and the ceiling for Brent. Our China oil demand guide covers the monthly data to watch, and what moves oil prices puts it in context.