China: More oil reserve bases to be built

China plans to build four levels of crude oil reserves made up of two parts – the government reserve and enterprise storage – according to a source with the nation’s largest oil company.

“The government reserve will be at two levels, a strategic crude oil reserve base by the central government, and an oil reserve base by local governments,” an official with PetroChina, who declined to be named, said.

“The enterprise storage will also be at two levels, commercial oil reserve by the largest oil companies PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC, and oil storage by the medium and small ones,” he said.

The strategic oil reserve base by the central government and the oil reserve by the nation’s leading oil companies are under way, and the other two levels are still in the preliminary stage, the official said.

The country also plans to formulate some regulations for oil reserves, he said.

“A sound oil reserve system will help ensure the nation’s energy security, in case there is an interruption in supplies or a hike in oil prices,” Han Xiaoping, chief information officer of China5e.com, said.

In some regions that are hungry for energy such as South China’s Guangdong Province, the local government has started to plan for oil reserves, Han said.

Chinanews