Save Our Pak
Beijing (May 09, 2026): China’s energy imports saw a major decline in April, with crude oil imports falling by 20 percent to 38.5 million metric tons.
According to Reuters, the drop came after tensions linked to the Iran conflict and the disruption around the Strait of Hormuz affected global energy trade. Fuel exports also dropped to their lowest level in almost ten years.
Nearly 50 percent of China’s crude oil supply comes from the Middle East. Because of the problems in the Strait of Hormuz, the number of oil tankers carrying crude oil and refined products around the world has decreased sharply.
Official Chinese data did not separate oil arriving by sea from oil imported through pipelines. However, shipping data company Kpler reported that seaborne crude oil imports fell to 8.03 million barrels per day, the lowest level since July 2022.
Even with lower imports, ship tracking company Vortexa estimated that China’s crude oil reserves increased by 17 million barrels during April. However, the company predicted that these reserves may fall in May.
Natural gas imports also declined by 13 percent, reaching 8.42 million tons. The data did not separately mention LNG imports by sea and gas imports through land pipelines. China imports a large amount of LNG from Gulf countries.
Despite the decline in April, China’s total crude oil imports during the first four months of this year were still 1.3 percent higher than last year, reaching 185.3 million tons.
Reported by Save Our pak
