Overview
- Lawmakers on the House Select Committee released a 41-page investigation Tuesday that alleges China buys crude from Iran, Russia, and Venezuela through a covert “shadow fleet.”
- The report cites Kpler data showing China took about 2.6 million barrels per day of sanctioned oil in 2025 and that shadow-fleet and sanctioned tankers moved roughly 10.3 million barrels per day with about one-third going to China.
- Investigators describe thousands of aging, reflagged tankers that use ship-to-ship transfers near Malaysia and fresh paperwork to hide a cargo’s true origin.
- The panel says discounted flows helped China build a strategic oil reserve of about 1.2 billion barrels by early 2026 at prices below the market.
- Recommendations include sanctions on ports and terminal operators that receive shadow-fleet cargo, a sanctions-evasion whistleblower program, and a CFTC inquiry into possible market manipulation, with no formal response yet from China and no new U.S. actions announced.