(Reuters) -China, the world’s largest crude oil buyer, is adding eleven new oil reserve sites this year and next as Beijing accelerates stockpiling the strategic commodity to safeguard supply security, according to public sources reviewed by Reuters.
Three of the 11 sites are inland, in northern Shaanxi province and southwest Yunnan, while the rest are on the east and south coasts.
The sites have a combined capacity of 26.8 million cubic meters, or about 169 million barrels, equivalent to two weeks of China’s crude oil imports. By comparison, China added 180-190 million barrels of storage capacity between 2020 and 2024, data analytics firms Vortexa and Kpler estimate, respectively.
Most of the new storage sites are labelled by government and companies as “commercial reserves”, according to local state media outlets and company websites.
However, as the tanks are constructed by national oil companies that procure oil for reserves, the sites serve as government emergency stockpiles, industry experts say.
Separately, China’s Fujian province proposed in late 2021 to build a total of 31 million cubic meters (195 million barrels) of underground oil storage between 2022 and 2026, according to local government websites.
Reuters was unable to find any public updates on Fujian’s storage plans.
New Capacity Operator
(million m³)
Location
Yantai, Shandong 3 Yantai Port
Weifang, Shandong 2.8 Zhenhua Oil
Daxie, Zhejiang 3 CNOOC
(underground)
Danzhou, Hainan 3.2 Sinopec
Jingbian, Shaanxi 0.8 Yanchang Petroleum
Yan’an, Shaanxi 1 Yanchang Petroleum
Chuxiong, Yunnan 5 PetroChina
(underground)
Dayou, Liaoning 2 Zhenhua Oil
Dongying Shandong 3.2 Sinopec
Jinzhou port, Liaoning 0.8 Zhenhua Oil
Tianjin Shihua Expansion 2 Sinopec
(Reporting by Reuters staffEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
