BEIJING: China’s rapid shift to electric vehicles is reshaping the world’s largest auto market and dulling growth in the transport fuel demand that once underpinned its appetite for imported crude, including heavy oil from Venezuela. The International Energy Agency said China sold over 11 million electric cars in 2024, with electric models accounting for almost half of all car sales, a scale that has few parallels in other major economies.
Electric car sales in China rose sharply in 2024, expanding China’s share of global electric car sales to nearly two thirds, the IEA said. On a monthly basis, electric car sales in China overtook conventional car sales starting in July 2024, reflecting deep competition among domestic brands, expanded charging access, and price cuts across popular segments. Global electric car sales exceeded 17 million in 2024, with China the main driver of that growth.
The fuel market is already showing the impact. The IEA has said China’s oil demand for fuels has reached a plateau as electrification advances in passenger transport and as efficiency improves. Sinopec’s Economics and Development Research Institute has said China’s gasoline consumption peaked in 2023. China’s transport ministry has also reported a rising share of road travel in electric and hybrid vehicles during major holiday periods, underscoring how quickly electrified vehicles have moved from niche to mainstream.
For oil exporters, the shift matters because China has long been the largest source of incremental global demand growth for transport fuels and for crude. Venezuela, whose crude output has been constrained for years by underinvestment and sanctions, became heavily reliant on a smaller set of buyers willing to process its heavy grades. Shipments to China were a key outlet: the analytics firm Vortexa estimated China imported about 470,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude in 2025, making China one of Venezuela’s most important destinations.
Venezuela’s heavy crude competes in a crowded market
Venezuelan crude is typically heavy and high in sulfur, and it often requires blending with lighter hydrocarbons to move through pipelines and to meet refinery specifications. In China, independent refiners concentrated in Shandong have been among the major processors of discounted heavy barrels, alongside state-owned groups with complex refining capacity. As China’s gasoline demand stopped expanding, refiners’ crude slates increasingly reflected margins for diesel, jet fuel, petrochemicals feedstocks, and exports of refined products, narrowing the role of any single supplier.
Venezuela’s deliveries have also been shaped by enforcement actions tied to U.S. sanctions. U.S. authorities have intensified scrutiny of shipping linked to sanctioned oil trade, including seizures of vessels described by U.S. officials as operating without proper documentation and insurance. Those actions added friction to Venezuelan exports that already relied on complicated logistics, ship-to-ship transfers, and intermediary handling. U.S. Treasury licensing changes for certain transactions involving Venezuelan oil also altered which counterparties could lift cargoes and how payments were managed, according to public U.S. government statements.
China still buys record crude volumes
Even as transport fuel growth slows, China’s crude buying has remained strong. China’s General Administration of Customs reported crude imports of 557.73 million metric tons in 2025, equivalent to about 11.55 million barrels per day, a record for the year. December imports rose to 55.97 million tons, about 13.18 million barrels per day, also a record for a single month. The data reflected high refinery runs and inventory building as refiners and traders took advantage of price differentials across grades and regions.
The result is a more complex picture than a simple drop in oil imports. China continues to purchase large volumes of crude, but the electrification of passenger transport reduces the pressure for sustained gasoline growth and changes the mix of barrels that refiners seek. Venezuela’s oil, once pulled into China as part of a narrow set of sanctioned supplies, faces tighter constraints from logistics and compliance risks, while competing with other heavy grades available to Chinese refiners. Over time, China’s EV boom leaves less guaranteed space for the Venezuelan crude it used to absorb at scale. – By Content Syndication Services.
