When the war with Iran broke out and access to more than 11 million barrels of crude oil a day was thrown into question, analysts predicted a price of 200 dollars a barrel by year's end. It didn't happen. And the main reason, experts say, is one country we rarely mention when we talk about the price of fuel at our pumps - China.

As the world's second-largest oil consumer, China made a series of moves - it cut imports, leaned on the vast reserves it had stockpiled over years, and ramped up its use of clean energy. The result: the shock of higher prices was simply absorbed. "China played a key role in cushioning the blow for the rest of Asia, and with it for the global economy," says Dan Walter of the Ember energy institute. Another analyst put it more simply: "China set a ceiling on the price."

The numbers speak for themselves. Brent fell below 78 dollars a barrel on Monday - compared with 114 dollars in early May, at the peak of the crisis. And China's electric-vehicle boom last year cut oil consumption by around a million barrels a day. The International Energy Agency now warns that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz could bring a supply glut next year - up to 4.7 million barrels a day more than is demanded.

And where are we in all this? At the end of the chain, as usual. When China decides to stockpile reserves, the Balkan driver at the pump doesn't even know it - but that distant decision is the difference between a reasonable and an unbearable price to fill the tank. Our world is cut out for us by players we didn't choose, on markets we don't control. At least this time that invisible hand didn't hit us in the pocket - but how long will we depend on someone else's strategy just to make our own life bearable?