Starting this Friday, China’s national petrol and diesel prices rose for the fifth time this cycle: 92-octane gasoline up about 0.24 yuan per liter, diesel up 0.25 yuan. For a private car, topping up a 50-liter tank will cost roughly 12 yuan more than last week.
The driver is international crude. China’s domestic fuel prices are anchored to an index of international benchmark oils. In this cycle, renewed disputes over the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints - lifted the “risk premium” on crude, pushing the average reference price up.
The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf, where much of the world’s oil sits, to the open ocean. Any conflict, seizure or threat there tightens the supply of oil reaching global markets. When supply looks tighter, the price rises - even before a single barrel is actually lost.
For ordinary people, the lesson is that daily prices are global prices. A tanker dispute a continent away can, within two weeks, show up in the price at a local gas station. Understanding the chain - chokepoint, risk premium, benchmark, retail - turns a confusing pump price into a small lesson in world trade.