China Could Be About to Remove Oil's Biggest Safety Net

The oil market may soon run out of the supply and demand cushions that have kept prices from soaring to record highs during the huge loss of flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The window provided by the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, during which Middle Eastern producers rushed the crude amassed in the Gulf in the previous four months out of the region, abruptly shut down with the renewed hostilities and all-but-dead ceasefire. Inventories of crude and fuels in key markets, including the United States, are running dangerously low with…