Two weeks ago, risks to crude oil supply from the Middle East rose again after the ceasefire was shattered by Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. has since been striking Iranian targets daily, Iran has been firing missiles at U.S. military bases and assets across the Middle East, and the U.S. has reinstated the blockade aimed at stopping Iranian oil exports. This week, Brent crude oil prices hit $100 per barrel again, as the Strait of Hormuz remains almost entirely paralyzed and the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen target tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea. As a result, Chinese buyers are wasting no time securing some alternatives to Middle Eastern supply well in advance. But with spiking prices and growing fears that supply from the Middle East is constrained at both key chokepoints, China’s refiners prefer to stock up on Russia’s crude that takes only a week to reach import terminals.