Oil prices in China have jumped to record highs, as refiners in the world’s biggest crude importer step up a hunt for supplies amid widening fears over the security of exports from the Middle East.
Oil futures in Shanghai were trading at $129 a barrel on Wednesday, above their peak of $121.80 in the first weeks of the Iran war. The price has jumped 14 per cent since the end of last week when Saudi Arabia was forced to shut a key pipeline taking exports to the Red Sea after attacks by Iran-backed militias in Iraq.