As Predicted -- China Building Stockpiles

Link here to Bloomberg.

I have posted this several times: as the price of oil comes down, China is buying it up as fast as it can absorb it.

China is hoarding crude at the fastest rate since the Beijing Olympics four years ago as the slump in international prices prompts it to import unprecedented volumes even as refining slows.

The world's second-biggest oil consumer built up a surplus of about 90 million barrels of crude in the first five months of the year, government data show. The excess, the most since the run-up to the 2008 games,  ...

China, which imports more than half its crude, is constructing about 200 million barrels of storage capacity in the second stage of a plan for strategic reserves to help it manage price swings. Overseas purchases rose to a record last month even as processing by refiners including China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and PetroChina Co. slackened. 

And even with this frenetic buildup, Bloomberg says the country is behind the curve on their stored reserves. Interesting.