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Home – China News – Trump Just Upturned China’s Illicit Petroleum Network

Trump Just Upturned China’s Illicit Petroleum Network

Erik Cotter | Brent Sadler

Per the terms of the recent U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding, the U.S. Treasury had waived sanctions on some Iranian crude oil exports for 60 days. That move quickly sent American gas prices downward. Then, on July 6, Iran renewed attacks on shipping that got the waiver revoked. But for China, there seems to be little good news either way regarding its energy security.

An uncomfortable reality for Beijing is that its strategic ambitions are conditioned on access to cheap imported energy.

China’s status as the world’s second-largest economy, backed by the world’s largest navy and commercial fleet, makes it an energy-hungry industrial and military goliath. Since 2000, its energy imports have grown by 984%, and today Beijing imports over 20% of its energy needs, importing over 70% of its crude oil needs and approximately 40% of its LNG needs. But it is reliant on foreign oil and natural gas, much of it from countries of questionable stability, often forced to operate in the shadows of legality under sanctions.

President Donald Trump’s moves on Venezuela and Iran this year have agitated China’s energy dilemma. The emerging energy market reality is proving a strategic vulnerability for Beijing. China’s economy, military, and ambitions are increasingly at the mercy of Washington.

Significant disruption could cripple China’s crude oil imports and rapidly deplete its reserves, according to the new report “Tidalwave” from The Heritage Foundation. Even some casual observers began to suspect this was in fact occurring during the recent closures of the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2024, Beijing consumed approximately 16.3 million barrels of petroleum daily, though it produced only 4.3 million barrels of crude oil domestically. The nation’s domestic crude oil production has steadily increased in recent years, but consumption has continually outpaced production, forcing China to depend heavily on imported energy. The Daqing oil field in northeastern China and the Shengli oil field in Shandong remain the pillars of........

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