New York, Jan. 4, 2026 (Naija247news) — China’s loss of access to Venezuela’s crude oil is unlikely to significantly affect its energy security, analysts say, as Venezuelan oil represents only a small fraction of China’s total imports.
Zongyuan Zoe Lee, a fellow at the China Studies programme at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Al Jazeera that while Venezuela fits into China’s broader energy diversification strategy, rerouting oil “is not going to cause a huge blow to China’s energy security.”
However, Lee noted that the situation raises concerns for China’s independent refineries, commonly referred to as teapot refineries, which are mainly based in Shandong province and specialise in processing discounted crude.
“China has built a very robust domestic export control regime, but it is questionable to what extent China may be willing to escalate this in an effort to punish any actions against China,” Lee said.
She added, “This is not necessarily a priority in the broader context of the US-China relationship, and any mishandling of the current situation risks further escalation, so Beijing is looking to handle this measure very carefully.”
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