America is China's new best friend in the oil market

London

THERE is a new kid on the block, muscling in on crude sales to China. America is rapidly carving out a niche for itself, stepping in to fill the gap left by falling supplies from Opec countries. As recently as last year, US crude-oil exports to China were negligible. On average in 2016, companies shipped just 10,000 barrels a day to China - that's less than two supertankers during the whole year.

The US ranked 32nd in the list of Chinese import sources in 2016, according to data from the Chinese customs authorities. That's below Mongolia and Sudan, and only just above war-torn Yemen.