China has maintained massive crude inventories despite Middle East supply disruptions: Chinese crude inventories have fallen by less than 1 million barrels since the Iran War began on February 28th. As a result, total Chinese crude oil inventories still stand at ~1.8 billion barrels, including strategic reserves. Since March 2025, inventories have risen +400 million barrels, or +29%. This comes as cheap Iranian and Russian crude continues to flow into China, while the country also introduced measures to suspend fuel exports to keep domestic supplies stable. Chinese purchases of Iranian crude are set to rise to a record ~1.9 million barrels per day this month. China has the world’s largest oil buffer and is using it carefully.(The Kobeissi Letter)