If you followed China's industrial PMI breakdown, you'd see inventory is consistently down every month as supply chain rather than reduced stockpiles vs paid for more expensive crude.

What happened: China's industrial PMI breakdown shows inventory falling every month, which the post attributes to supply chain shifts rather than reduced stockpiles bought at higher crude prices. Key numbers: Q3 crude imports down 29%. Russia share rose to 27.4%. Import cost up 33%, at 4500 RMB/t or about $87 per barrel. Why it matters: The post says China has burned through much of a petrochemicals glut built by years of overproduction as the US-Iran war chokes oil flows, setting the stage for higher prices for industrial materials, most acutely in the aromatics chain.

Q3 was down 29% in crude import even as non-seaborne remained flat. Russia share rose to 27.4% You can bet China will try to increase pipeline from Central Asia in the next few yrs. Eventually want to build it all the way to Iran. Middle Eastern reduced drastically as one might imagine. If we consider that China — via @tphuang

China crude imports fell 29% in Q3 while Russia's share rose to 27.4%.