Yet even when fighting was most intense, oil prices never reached the $US150 a barrel ($212) many analysts had predicted at the start of the conflict. Of the 11.6 million b/d China imported in February, up to one million b/d were excess purchases it could subsequently forgo by stockpiling less. Add these in, and China tapped 150 million barrels in those three months, or some 1.5 million b/d. Add the one million b/d no longer being stockpiled and 1.5 million b/d in drawdowns, and stock management may account for 2.5 million b/d of the 5.5 million b/d fall in imports. As the world’s second-largest oil refiner, China is usually a big fuel supplier to its Asian neighbours.