China’s secretive effort to build a Strategic Petroleum Reserve has given oil bulls comfort that the underpinnings for global oil prices are strong. Yet in the near term, there are reasons to believe this mysterious hoard won’t offer much support. The world’s second largest consumer of oil after the U.S. began building its strategic reserves a decade ago and recently stepped up construction of storage facilities. China aims by 2020 to squirrel away 100 days of net imports, according to state media. At current rates of imports, that would mean 600 million barrels of crude oil at least. Analyst estimates of how much China has managed to fill so far vary hugely, ranging between 120 million and 260 million barrels. Beijing doesn’t divulge details regularly on the program, which is thought to buy oil when the price dips. If […]