China is pressing ahead with its second phase of emergency crude storage as forecasts predict continued high demand.
Expansion of China's storage facilities Image: Chinamining.org |
The latest expansion of the country's emergency storage tank facilities will be completed by the end of the 2012 and will cover the four points of the country's compass. The four centres are sited in Jintan and Zhoushan in the East, Huizhou in the South and Shanshan in the Xinjiang province in the West of China.
Jintan and Shanshan will be expanded by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC Zhoushan is an enhancement of Sinochem's Phase One site and Huizhou will utilise natural underground caves owned and operated by CNOOC.
Overall, the storage will add a further 270m barrels of oil to China's crude-reserves. In the light of forecasts of continuing price volatility and predictions of increased demand across Asia, the latest emergency storage capacity will ease the pressure to find a home for emergency supplies that China began buying in February this year according to reports.