Ukraine crisis seen as wake-up call for China’s energy security, Beijing ‘unlikely’ to release oil reserves
- Benchmark Brent crude oil prices topped US$100 per barrel for the first time since September 2014 on Thursday after Russia launched attacks on Ukraine
- US President Joe Biden said Washington was working with other countries on a coordinated release from global strategic oil reserves
Rising oil prices as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict represent a wake-up call for China’s energy security, experts have warned, stressing the importance of greater self-reliance for the world’s largest crude importer.
Beijing has yet to offer a clear signal if it will release supplies from its strategic oil reserves in sync with the United States and other economies.
But analysts have said that China’s stockpile is not large enough and warned about the risk of commodity inflation.
China’s current reserves are not particularly sufficient, so it is unlikely to take such action for coping with short-term [volatility]
Japan and Australia have said they are ready to tap their reserves if global supplies were hit by hostilities in Ukraine.
“China’s current reserves are not particularly sufficient, so it is unlikely to take such action for coping with short-term [volatility],” said Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University, who is also a member of the expert consultation committee under the National Energy Commission.