The party's over

Chinese purchasing of crude for storage will slow sharply in September, knocking out another prop in global oil demand

Beijing's record-breaking purchasing of crude oil will likely slow from September as it nears the top of current capacity of its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR). China's total oil demand rose by more than 2%, year on year, in June, to more than 11m barrels a day. That's already somewhat lower than previous years' trend growth. But a campaign to stash crude has inflated even those figures- and is about to end. It's an ugly notion for the oil market. After buying in at a rate of around 1m b/d-a pattern that helped lift global prices off the floor-a consensus of China-watchers believes the National Development Reform Commission, which manages government and enterprise stockpiles, has decided