Treasury Secretary Bessent Says China Will Help Reopen Strait of Hormuz

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that China will work behind the scenes to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “I think they’re going to do what they can,” Bessent told CNBC’s Joe Kernen from Beijing, where he had accompanied President Donald Trump to a two-day summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

” China is the world’s largest oil importer and the main buyer of sanctioned Iranian crude. That position gives Beijing leverage over Tehran while also exposing its own energy security to disruption from a prolonged closure. The conflict began in late February when U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after which Iran blockaded the Strait.

Brent crude rose 3.15 percent to $109 a barrel on the day of Bessent’s remarks. The International Energy Agency estimates global spare production capacity at about 4.4 million barrels per day, though more than 75 percent of that capacity is located inside the Middle East and cannot easily reach buyers while the Strait remains blocked.

Polymarket users have wagered almost $14 million on whether Hormuz traffic returns to normal by the end of May. The market currently prices that outcome at under a 6 percent chance. Contracts for resolution by July 31 trade at 46 percent and by December 31 at 79 percent.

Traders therefore see a path to eventual normalization by year-end but assign low probability to a near-term reopening. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to undercut the idea of seeking Chinese assistance, telling NBC News that the United States is not asking for China’s help and does not need it.

East-West pipeline, known as Petroline, was running at roughly 3.2 million barrels per day before the conflict. Within days of the February strikes, Aramco increased throughput to full capacity and in March converted a parallel natural gas pipeline to crude service, raising total capacity from 5 million to 7 million barrels per day.

Bloomberg has reported that Petroline is one reason oil prices have not reached higher levels. Exxon Mobil and Chevron have benefited from the elevated price floor, as has the United States Oil Fund. The supply offsets have kept Brent crude near $110 rather than moving toward modeled extreme-case levels of $150 per barrel.