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China is sitting on the world’s largest strategic crude oil stockpile
27/4/2026
News
New US Energy Information Agency (EIA) figures have shone a light on remaining crude oil stocks around the world, which may become of increasing importance to meet energy demand as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed.
China had the largest stockpile, consisting of about 359mn barrels of public and 1,038bn barrels of commercial oil stocks at national oil companies (which is also considered state property), according to the EIA’s estimates, which were based on indirect figures rather than official reporting. Second after China was the US, at 413mn barrels (or 824mn combined), then Japan at 263mn barrels (483mn combined).
All of those stocks were calculated before the release of 426mn barrels of strategic oil reserves earlier this year by International Energy Agency members.
Comparing country-by-country donations with the EIA data set provides additional context. For example, the quantity of crude oil agreed to be released by European OECD members in March totalled nearly 60% of the EIA’s figure for their publicly-held reserves. By similar comparisons, the US released 42%, Japan 30% and South Korea 28%. Those three countries and Europe released 381mn barrels of crude oil, leaving 553mn barrels remainining in public stocks, although many have significant commercial stocks as well.
The EIA also reported that Saudi Arabia had stocks of 82mn barrels, Iran 71mn barrels, the United Arab Emirates 34mn barrels and India 21.4mn barrels.
Asked to comment about the situation on a visit to the Energy Institute on 23 April, former BP CEO John Browne said: ‘The price of oil is high, but it could have been much higher. There are a couple of things going on. One is the price is going up, so demand has come down. Demand always gets destroyed when the price goes up. And secondly, supplies were quite long in the world, and we’re drawing on inventory around the world. And very roughly, I suppose about half of the shortfall in supply as a result of the stress is coming from demand and half from stocks. The stocks never last forever, but right now they’re in good shape.’
Fig 2: Estimates of national crude oil reserves in late 2025 by country, including in some cases commercial holdings. (Note: Chinese commercial holdings are effectively state-owned.)
Source: EIA
