China imports more oil from Malaysia than the country produces

Bangkok China’s alleged successes in finding new energy suppliers sound too good to be true. While the rest of the world is struggling with energy shortages, the People’s Republic claims to have found a new major supplier in Southeast Asia: According to official import statistics, the country received one million barrels of oil (159 liters each) per day from Malaysia in September – a new record and 111 percent more than last year.

The tropical state is thus developing into what appears to be one of the most important sources of oil for China – and is no longer far behind China’s largest oil supplier Saudi Arabia, which supplies 1.8 million barrels a day to Asia’s largest economy.

However, the statistics on Malaysia’s rise in oil trade with China have a catch: the country does not actually produce as much oil as China supposedly gets from Malaysia. According to industry experts, behind the supposedly booming business between the two countries is an extensive operation to conceal the true countries of origin.