The US House of Representatives passed a highly politically driven bill on Thursday aimed at banning crude oil trade with China, once again in the name of national security, as the country deals with high inflation. Experts said that the ban, if implemented, would have no real consequences for China's oil supply, given the diversified sources and the very limited share of the US oil in the Chinese market, and warned that it could further complicate China-US trade relations, which have already been clouded by various export restriction policies imposed by the US in recent years. The US House of Representatives approved legislation on Thursday to ban the sale and export of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China, UPI reported on Thursday. The measure still faces an uncertain future in the Senate. The bill specifically bars the Department of Energy from selling petroleum products from the reserve to any entity that is under the "ownership, control or influence" of the Chinese Communist Party, the report said. The department must also require as a condition of the sale of crude oil from the reserve that it not then be exported to China. The ban came as the US government has been struggling to deal with the country's ongoing energy shortage. The Biden administration released 180 million barrels of oil last year from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a bid to curb gasoline prices. Experts said the US ban on oil trading, which makes up a very small proportion of China's overall oil imports, will have little impact on Chinese energy supply. China is the world's largest crude oil importer and the second largest oil consumer, with a 72 percent dependence on foreign crude oil. The top five exporters of crude oil to China include Russia and Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, while the US lags far behind in tenth place, data with the General Administration of Customs shows.

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The US House of Representatives passed a highly politically driven bill on Thursday aimed at banning crude oil trade with China, once again in the name of national security, as the country deals with high inflation. Experts said that the ban, if implemented, would have no real consequences for China's oil supply, given the diversified sources and the very limited share of the US oil in the Chinese market, and warned that it could further complicate China-US trade relations, which have already been clouded by various export restriction policies imposed by the US in recent years. The US House of Representatives approved legislation on Thursday to ban the sale and export of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China, UPI reported on Thursday. The measure still faces an uncertain future in the Senate. The bill specifically bars the Department of Energy from selling petroleum products from the reserve to any entity that is under the "ownership, control or influence" of the Chinese Communist Party, the report said. The department must also require as a condition of the sale of crude oil from the reserve that it not then be exported to China. The ban came as the US government has been struggling to deal with the country's ongoing energy shortage. The Biden administration released 180 million barrels of oil last year from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a bid to curb gasoline prices. Experts said the US ban on oil trading, which makes up a very small proportion of China's overall oil imports, will have little impact on Chinese energy supply. China is the world's largest crude oil importer and the second largest oil consumer, with a 72 percent dependence on foreign crude oil. The top five exporters of crude oil to China include Russia and Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, while the US lags far behind in tenth place, data with the General Administration of Customs shows.