China’s crude oil cutoff to North Korea has stretched into its 15th month, according to Chinese customs data from March.

Before shipments of crude oil disappeared from trade statistics in December 2013, China shipped around 500,000 tons of crude oil a year to the DPRK.

If true, the long-running absence of crude would likely have had noticeable consequences in North Korea.

“If the import of crude oil is actually zero, then there has to be some sort of grievous form of energy crisis in North Korea. Evidently, it is not happening at the moment