07-03-06
China has largely completed construction of a national strategic oil storage
base in Zhenhai in eastern Zhejiang province, and will put it into operation by
yearend, according to Ma Kai, chairman of China's National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC).
In addition to Zhenhai, Ma said three other bases for strategic oil reserves
will be ready in 2007-08. They include sites in Dalian City in northeast China's
Liaoning province, Shandongs Huangdao in eastern Shandong province, and Zhoushan
in Zhejiang province.
Zenhai's planned capacity is 5.2 mm cm, or about 32.7 mm bbl, an amount equal
to about 20 days of oil imports. In December 2005, China imported about 2.7 mm
bpd of crude oil, according to government data.
Ma gave no exact timetable for the filling of the tanks, apparently due to the
high costs of filling them with imported oil.
In June 2005 NDRC Vice-Chairman Zhang Guobao said China would begin filling
its reserves by the end of 2005. But he revised that estimate in September,
saying that rising prices of imported oil would make it risky for China to start
filling its reserves.
Instead, Zhang said, China would "look for other ways to fill energy reserves
gradually."
Source: OGJ