crude oil

The level of toxicity is dependent on the crude oil that it has been refined from.

Our minibus rattles as it takes us from Iraqi Kurdistan through Syrian oil fields, where jacks pumping crude oil line the roads.

“People freak out about the environmental impacts of crude oil shipments,” Jones said.

The BBC has visited the affected areas in the Niger Delta, where Shell, the largest private oil and gas company in the country, discovered the existence of crude oil 68 years ago.

But its overall fossil fuel trade is modest, with US imports accounting for just 1.7% of China's total crude oil bought from abroad in 2023.