The Interregional Embodied Oil Transfer in China: Estimation and Path Structure Decomposition

The complexity of China’s interregional oil transfer networks poses challenges for identifying the economic and environmental risks linked to embodied oil flows within the global value chain (GVC) division of the labor framework. This paper employed a multiregional input–output model to quantify the scale of embodied oil transfers across Chinese regions and analyzed the value chain structure of interregional oil channels using an extended value-added decomposition model. The findings reveal key insights: (1) while embodied oil transfer patterns exhibit growing divergence and concentration across industries, provincial-level distributions are gradually moving toward equilibrium; (2) China’s inland regions predominantly depend on embodied oil from the eastern coastal zone; (3) interregional trade plays a pivotal role in embodied oil flows, with most interprovincial transfers occurring through simple national value chains and only a minimal proportion routed via complex national value chains. These insights offer valuable guidance for designing targeted oil-conservation policies and advancing China’s “dual carbon” goals.