China aims to expand its strategic oil reserves, according to its latest five-year plan, as Beijing confronts volatility from the Middle East conflict.
The world’s largest crude importer, China is vulnerable to a lasting disruption in global energy flows — it tightened fuel export curbs this week — but Beijing has prepared for such turmoil by amassing large oil stockpiles and pursuing an aggressive green energy transformation.
It is looking to double power generation from renewable and nuclear sources over the next decade. “The most durable hedge against oil shocks is to consume less oil, not merely to produce more,” two experts wrote in Foreign Policy, predicting the crisis could accelerate other countries’ pivot toward electrification in the name of energy security.