Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 7 -- 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.
China's state-run media reported that Zenhai's planned capacity is 5.2 million cu m, or about 32.7 million bbl, an amount equal to about 20 days of oil imports. In December 2005, China imported about 2.7 million b/d 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."
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].