South Asian News Network

China has told its largest oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, as the war in the Middle East increasingly risks an energy supply crunch. China is an importer of oil and is one of several major Asian economies that depend on the vital Strait of Hormuz, where traffic is currently blocked, for energy. The Middle East was the source of 57 percent of China’s direct seaborne crude imports in 2025.
Officials from China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, met with refinery representatives and “verbally called for a temporary suspension of refined product shipments, Bloomberg said Thursday. “The refiners were asked to stop signing new contracts and to negotiate the cancellation of already-agreed shipments,” the report said.