Chinese buyers are back in the crude oil spot market, threatening a tenuous balance they helped strike earlier in the year when they slowed crude imports and enabled an undersupplied market to withstand what many feared would be runaway price spikes after war in the Strait of Hormuz broke out. Their return follows Beijing's decision in July to relax its ban on exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, which allows refiners to fetch higher margins than on the domestic market. But traders worry this will push up oil differentials while Mideast flows remain tight. Chinese buyers are snapping up cargoes of Russian crude — both Urals and Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean blend — as well as Iraqi and West African grades, traders and analysts told S&P Global Energy's Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference in Singapore this week. Chinese buyers "came to the spot market and spooked the market a bit," one Asian oil analyst noted. Chinese refiners had cut their crude imports by around 5 million b/d in June from a year earlier after Beijing imposed a temporary ban on products exports and raised domestic diesel and gasoline prices by less than the increase in international oil prices. New Chinese customs data this week shows China's total refined products exports in August totaled 6 million tons; of that, at least 3 million tons likely comprises jet fuel, diesel and gasoline, up from 2.55 million tons in July and 1.46 million tons in June. China's August crude imports rose to 37.93 million tons (8.96 million b/d) — up almost 30% from China's near-10-year low in June — but are still down more than 23% from August 2025.