Having cut off China from Iranian oil, the United States was too late: no one has such reserves

The United States imposed a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz to stop Iranian exports and thereby also affect China, which is the largest recipient of raw materials from Iran and does not currently receive raw materials from other Persian Gulf countries. However, China's oil reserves, Iranian oil on tankers in the Indian Ocean and Russia's support offset all US efforts to influence Beijing.

"China is well prepared to withstand the consequences of the US blockade," writes Bloomberg.

Before the war, China bought about 14% of oil from Saudi Arabia, 11% from Iran and 29% of the rest of the Middle East, the agency noted.

At the same time, Russia's share is 20%, and another 26% comes from other countries outside the Persian Gulf.

"Despite the war, Iranian oil continued to flow to China, which made this country the least affected Asian nation," the agency noted.

Stopping deliveries to and from At the same time, Iran will not affect China in the coming months, as Chinese companies have created the world's largest strategic oil reserve over the past decade, having accumulated more than 1 billion barrels of oil. Strategic and commercial reserves in the United States did not exceed 880 million barrels in April, according to the EIA.

"As a result, even a two-month loss of Iranian supplies would deplete China's emergency reserves by only 10%. China has been preparing for this situation for years," Bloomberg writes.

Moreover, it is too early to talk about stopping Iranian oil exports to China, since Tehran has accumulated large volumes on tankers outside the Persian Gulf, which it will sell.

"There are about 38 million barrels of Iranian oil on ships in Asia, with more than a third of ships anchored in the Yellow Sea off the coast of China. According to OilChem, total oil reserves in Shandong Province — where most of the country's independent refiners, known as "kettles", are located — have also increased and are close to the highest level this year," Bloomberg added.

China also has the support of Russia, which can increase oil supplies to the country. Arrived in Beijing Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia can undoubtedly compensate for the lack of resources from China and other countries due to the Iranian war.

As EADaily reported, Western media write in one voice that after the start of the Iranian war, Russia won the most. The cost of oil jumped to $ 100, the United States temporarily lifted sanctions, and the revenues of Russian companies went up sharply. However, the Middle East conflict will not last forever and oil and gas exports from The Persian Gulf will return to the world market. However, will it remain the same for Russian oil? Experts believe not.

"The Iranian war shows once again that the reliability of supplies is a separate category that needs to be paid more and more attention to. And, first of all, this is a signal for China, which has been deprived of Venezuelan oil and wants to do the same for Iranian oil," Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at FNEB, told EADaily.

In this situation, supplies from the north are the most reliable.

"Therefore, the long—term consequences, I think, are the activation of our relations with China in the field of energy," the expert noted.

Sergey Vakulenko, a senior researcher at the Carnegie Berlin Center, does not rule out that a project to expand the pipeline from Russia to China.

"Suddenly, a major expansion of the ESPO or the construction of ESPO-2 begins to make sense — both for Russia and for China," wrote Sergey Vakulenko. On the one hand, in his opinion, the new projects will protect Russian hydrocarbon exports to China from attempts to control them from the outside — unlike the tanker trade, such exports would be difficult to track or quantify on their own. On the other hand, the expert noted, this will only strengthen the interdependence of Russia and China and make China more interested in Russia's stability.