But, again, the market does not know. This opacity has become a major blind spot for the oil market and has altered the way rising storage levels are interpreted.
Historically, oil prices have closely tracked inventory changes in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, particularly the US and Europe, which long dominated global demand. An increase in storage was usually considered bearish.
However, Chinese stock builds are currently perceived as bullish, an indication of strong demand that offsets the negative price signals coming from the builds in visible OECD inventories, according to Martijn Rats, an analyst at Morgan Stanley. This possibility can help explain why crude prices haven’t slid as global inventories have risen.
Western sanctions on several oil-producing nations are adding further complexity to this picture. China, India and Turkey have absorbed most sanctioned Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan crude in recent years, importing around 3.5 million bpd in 2025, according to Kpler.
