Bloomberg
China’s crude stockpiles fell to the lowest level in almost a
year amid a global drawdown in inventories that’s being
driven by a tighter supply-demand balance and higher costs to hoard oil.
Inventories capped a seventh weekly
decline last week, dropping to 990 million barrels, according to market intelligence firm Kayrros.
While that’s the least since February 2020, stockpiles are still 16% higher than a year earlier.
A resurgent virus and lockdowns in parts of the country have raised concerns about a near-term
demand hit, but an overall improvement in domestic travel compared with last year is contributing to the recovery.