Chinese strategic oil reserves are missing.

China’s strategic oil reserve, to the surprise of the government officials who went to verify the reserves in May, was instead composed of water, sludge, various debris and overflow from nearby sewer lines.

That’s awkward.

China used to circumvent sanctions to buy oil from Iran and Venezuela, but the US has instituted management disruptions in those countries.  The Strait of Hormuz is also critical.  China might want to help out the US in keeping that open.

Communist countries rely on lies and deceit, so corruption is built in.  If low level officials figure they are screwed anyway, then why not steal almost nine billion barrels of oil?  Filling the tanks with water and sludge must have taken some effort.  The tanks probably have some type of capacity sensors, so they did the ol’ idol swipe maneuver from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It was soon discovered that corrupt government officials and oil reserve personnel had sold the oil and pocketed the proceeds. The local buyers were often operators of small, locally owned refineries that turned the oil into commercial products that were sold throughout China. Most of these oil criminals then fled, often leaving China for sanctuary states that would welcome any affluent Chinese and their new wealth.

This seems like a huge story, but I didn’t see it reported anywhere else.  I asked Bing about the StrategyPage website.

Remember when President Trump wanted to go to Fort Knox to verify that the gold was really there?  He got a lot of shit for that, but it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.