PetroChina To Build Oil Storage Tanks

The 20 tanks, with 100,000 cubic meters of storage each, would cost $291.8 million and be ready for use in three years, the Lanzhou Morning Post said, quoting Li Jiamin, vice general manager of PetroChina's Lanzhou unit.

The tanks would store oil produced in Xinjiang as well as imported Kazakh oil, the report said.

PetroChina has started building two storage facilities in Xinjiang in the northwest and Liaoning in the northeast after setting up a unit specialized in commercial oil stockpiling.

Rival Sinopec has planned 15 million cubic meters of storage capacity in southern Hainan and four other projects that could hold 8 million tons, or 58.4 million barrels of oil, in various regions, the newspaper added.

China has begun filling its third government-owned strategic crude oil reserve last month to take advantage of diving crude oil prices to build up an emergency supply buffer for the future.

Author: Ksenia Kochneva