More than 30 percent of maritime oil shipments pass through the South China Sea, the site of a tense military standoff between the US and China, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Monday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th August, 2018) More than 30 percent of maritime oil shipments pass through the South China Sea, the site of a tense military standoff between the US and China, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Monday.
China has built military bases on numerous reclaimed islands bracketing the sea, over which Beijing claims sovereignty, while the US military, together with other nations, frequently conducts freedom of navigation exercises to reinforce claims that the sea is an international waterway.
"The South China Sea is a major trade route for crude oil, and in 2016, more than 30 percent of global maritime crude oil trade, or about 15 million barrels per day (b/d), passed through the South China Sea," a press release summarizing the report said.
The three crude oil importers with the largest volumes passing through the South China Sea - China, Japan, and South Korea - collectively accounted for 80 percent of total crude oil volumes transiting the South China Sea in 2016, the release explained.
In addition, more than half of Saudi Arabia's global crude oil shipments traveled through the South China Sea in 2016, the release said.
