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Posted on 04/24/2026 7:03:57 AM PDT by delta7
24 APRIL 2026 According to a US EIA release, China had the largest strategic oil reserves in the world as of as of December 2025, before the coordinated emergency release agreed following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz (US EIA press release, 20/04/2026). According to analysis, China added large volumes to its commercial inventory during 2025 (average of 1.1 mbl/d) reaching almost 1.4 Gbl of crude oil at the end of the year. Since government-held inventories are not reported by China, the EIA estimated that they held approximately 360 mbl.
After China, the US held the second largest inventory. Through its US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the country held 413 mbl, to which the analysis adds 411 mbl of commercial crude oil inventories within the US, reaching an overall inventory of 825 mbl. As of 10 April 2026, the country held 409 mbl. Japan held the third-largest strategic oil inventories, reaching 263 mbl in government-held inventories, excluding international joint stockpiling inventories or commercial inventories held for strategic purposes pursuant to Japanese law.
After the main three strategic crude reserves, the OECD members within Europe were estimated to have reserves of about 179 mbl by the same period, followed by Saudi Arabia (average of 82 mbl of on-land storage, excluding leased crude oil storage sites in South Korea and in Japan), South Korea (79 mbl), Iran (71 mbl of on-land oil, although the country also reportedly holds a bonded storage in China with an unknown inventory level).
The UAE held an average of 34 mbl of on-land oil inventories. However, the country also has an underground storage in Fujairah with an unknown capacity and inventory, and it also reportedly leases storage sites in South Korea, Japan, India. Finally, India, through its Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd. (ISPRL) had 21.4 mbl of crude oil stored as of March 2025 to which an additional 3 mbl of crude oil stored for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) that is not considered part of India’s strategic reserve.
The estimation of the strategic crude reserves of certain countries became harder to calculate due to limitations on the available information. In particular, the current strategic inventories of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran were estimated based on the December 2025 average refinery and commercial inventories reported by Vortexa and Kpler.
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Isn't that special. WAG's are considered accurate reporting.
As of late April 2026, the United States has loaned 53.68 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in 2026. This total comprises 45.2 million barrels released in the first batch in March and 8.48 million barrels loaned in the second batch in April.
The administration plans to ultimately release 172 million barrels in total through this coordinated loan/exchange program.
Thanks Joe.
I wonder if Mr.Biden was so careless with his strategic ice cream reserves.
“China had the largest strategic oil reserves in the world as of as of December 2025“
You can do this when your country isn’t ruled by the a self serving traitor like Biden.
EIA?
I know, I could look it up, but would it kill the authors to spell it out the first time?
The clean way to compare them is in **days of cover**: stockpile divided by daily use. China’s roughly 1.4 billion barrels against about 16.1 to 16.4 million barrels per day of consumption works out to about **85 to 87 days** of use, while the U.S.’s 825 million barrels against about 20.25 million barrels per day is about **41 days**. [voronoiapp](https://www.voronoiapp.com/energy/The-US-and-China-Consume-35-of-the-Worlds-Oil--6191)
So although China’s absolute inventory is larger, the U.S. uses more oil each day, which narrows the gap when you measure stocks relative to need. Put differently, China’s stock is about **1.7 times** the U.S. total inventory, but its daily use is only about **80%** of the U.S.’s, so China’s reserve coverage is roughly **double** in time terms. [eia](https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=33&t=6)
But also factor in how much each produces, and would have access to in a war. Also, if the US had refineries to process its own oil.
Yes — once you add production, refinery capacity, and wartime access, the picture changes a lot. China is still the more import-dependent system, while the U.S. is far closer to being able to run on domestic crude plus domestic refining, though not perfectly and not for every grade of crude.energypolicy.columbia+2
Current supply balance
China in 2024 produced about 4.3 million barrels per day and consumed about 16.3 million barrels per day, so it had to import roughly 11.1 million barrels per day of crude to keep its system running. The U.S. produced about 13.5 to 13.6 million barrels per day in 2025–2026 outlook data, while consuming about 20.5 million barrels per day, so it still needed imports, but it is much less dependent on imports as a share of total supply than China.worldometers+3
Refining constraint
The U.S. had about 18.4 million barrels per day of operable atmospheric distillation capacity as of January 1, 2025. That means the U.S. generally has enough refinery capacity to process its own crude output, but not enough to fully cover total U.S. petroleum demand without imports or stocks, and some refineries are configured for imported heavier crudes rather than only domestic light crude. China’s refiners processed about 14.2 million barrels per day in 2024, and its domestic production covered only part of that, so its refining system depends much more heavily on imports.reddit+2
War access
In a war, what matters is not just how much oil a country has, but whether it can physically move, refine, and defend it. China’s biggest weakness is that a large share of its crude arrives by sea, so a blockade or shipping disruption would hit it hard. The U.S. has a major advantage because it produces a lot domestically, has extensive refining capacity, and can draw on the SPR, so it is much better positioned to keep fuel flowing under wartime pressure.eia+3
Relative resilience
A simple way to think about it is:
China has larger inventories, but much higher import dependence.eia
The U.S. has smaller inventories relative to China, but much stronger domestic production and refining.worldometers+1
In a short war or blockade, China’s vulnerability is generally greater because its supply chain depends more on external access.cnbc+1
Bottom line
If you include production and refining, the U.S. is more resilient than the raw inventory numbers alone suggest, while China looks stronger on stockpile size but weaker on import dependence. So the U.S. likely has the better war posture for sustained fuel availability, even though it still is not fully self-sufficient in total petroleum demand.eia+4
- .perplexity.aiHere’s a side-by-side table using the figures already discussed.
Factor China United States Crude + inventory stock discussed ~1.4 billion barrels ~825 million barrels Daily oil consumption ~16.3 million barrels/day ~20.5 million barrels/day Days of cover from inventory alone ~86 days ~40 days Domestic crude production ~4.3 million barrels/day ~13.5–13.6 million barrels/day Crude imports needed to meet consumption ~11.1 million barrels/day ~6.8–7.0 million barrels/day Refining capacity ~14.2 million barrels/day refined throughput discussed ~18.4 million barrels/day operable capacity Can process own crude? Not enough to cover needs; still heavily import-dependent Mostly yes for domestic crude output, though not perfectly for all crude grades Wartime vulnerability Higher, because of heavy import dependence and shipping exposure Lower, because of strong domestic production, refining, and SPR access Overall resilience Strong on stockpile size, weaker on supply independence Stronger overall on production + refining + logistics What this means
China looks stronger if you only count barrels in storage, but the U.S. is stronger when you factor in production and refining. China’s weakness is that it must keep importing a very large share of what it uses, while the U.S. can cover much more of its own system internally. That makes the U.S. better positioned in a disruption or war scenario, even though it still is not fully self-sufficient.
They are Chinese provided estimates, so they are not at all reliable.
However, I can see China using up the world’s reserves and then tapping into its own reserves while the rest of the world does without.
What is “1.4 Gbl of crude oil”?
And they need it, unlike US China depends almost solely on import of oil to support them, maybe 90 day supply. On the other hand we produce enough to export🤔
“Trump had better get busy refilling our Strategic Oil Reserves, senile Joe drained it all.”
Eh, not so much. The US has a smaller SOR, but has massive domestic storage (Cushing alone has 100mil, Midland alone has 20mil in just one local tank farm), and, more importantly, we make more oil than we need.
So ours just has to act as a buffer in the event of disruption.
China, in contrast, has far less domestic production, so it has to live off what it has stored.
It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, at all.
China 100% understands they are in long-term competition with the USA, and Russia may not remain a friend forever. What’s old will become new again
Which is why China has pushed their entire communist economic planning apparatus to go full-steam ahead on nuclear power, domestic coal, domestic rail, solar / wind, and electrification of transport
They want to be an energy island unto themselves.
It is a billion. This is ai-generated baloney. There are many fields across the world with over a billion barrels of reserves.
What is EIA?
The real question: Just what are we capable of producing once ANWR, Prudhoe Bay, California coast, Alberta, and the new pipeline are producing up to it’s potential? Don’t forget our natural gas.
With significant LNG production off limits for now, China will need to switch to crude or its derivatives to generate power. This happened in 2008. So any comparison should consider a couple of million bbls / day more deficit for China.
See: eia.gov
Biden Sold China SPR Oil at a Discount
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