OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, CHINA HAS SURGED past the U.S. to become the world's largest importer of foreign oil. A hefty portion of that supply originates from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and other Middle East exporters. Research firm Wood Mackenzie estimates that China will import 9.1 million barrels per day of crude in 2020, with some 3.5 million barrels, or 38%, of that total coming from the Middle East. (Russia and Africa, the next biggest suppliers to the globe's second-biggest economy, are each expected to send 1.8 million barrels per day to China in 2020.) But China's neighbors are even more dependent on the region: WoodMac projects that 57% of the total daily oil imports to Asia in 2020 will originate from the Middle East.
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