A staff member refuels a car in Zaozhuang, East China's Shandong Province on July 26, 2022. Photo: cnsphoto

International oil prices steadied on Thursday after rallying around 7 percent following a catastrophic earthquake in Turkey. Analysts believe the disaster will have a limited impact on China's energy supply, given the temporary disruption of crude supply channels and ramped-up domestic oil output.

International prices rose for the fourth straight day on Thursday. Brent crude slightly rose 0.09 percent as of 3:30 pm (Beijing time) to $85.17 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.04 percent to $78.5 per barrel.

The rebound came after a massive quake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday disrupted crude oil flows from Iraq and Azerbaijan via the Turkish port of Ceyhan, according to media reports.

"The sudden disruption has a limited impact on international crude supply, as only a small amount of oil flows through the channel," Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Turkey resumed its crude oil flows to the Mediterranean export terminal of Ceyhan late on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported, adding that Ceyhan exported more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in January, or 1 percent of global supplies.

Being the world's largest oil importer, China's imported oil and natural gas accounts for about 28 percent of its total consumption, Lin said, adding China's energy supply is ensured despite an expected demand increase due to its stable economic recovery.

The International Energy Agency predicted that world's oil demand would rise by 1.9 million bpd to a record 101.7 million bpd in 2023, with China accounting for half of the projected increase.

China has attached great importance to oil and gas supply to ensure its domestic energy security amid international uncertainties. Chinese domestic oil and gas producers, such as China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), have ramped up efforts to increase supplies along with the steady recovery of the domestic economy and a remarkable rebound of Chinese consumption. 

According to data from CNPC, the company has supplied 29 billion cubic meters of natural gas so far this year, up 1.5 percent year-on-year, while its daily supply of refined oil rose 2.1 percent to 288,000 tons.

China National Offshore Oil Corp, one of the country's three major oil and gas companies, told the Global Times on Thursday that the main structure of the Phase II of its Zhuhai Jinwan liquefied natural gas (LNG) Station in South China's Guangdong Province has been completed. It's the first LNG storage tank in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Phase I of the terminal was completed in 2013 with sufficient capacity to process 3.5 million tons of LNG annually. Since being put into use, it has imported more than 20 million tons of LNG, offering continuous and stable clean energy for South China and the Greater Bay Area, the company said.