China building 2nd-phase oil reserve in Xinjiang

(Chinatrucks.com, September 27, 2009)China started building a new 5.4-million-cubic-meter strategic oil reserve in the far western Xinjiang province yesterday as the country is making every effort to ensure its energy security.

The project in Dushanzi, Karamay City, is part of China's second phase of strategic oil reserves with a planned total storage capacity of 26.8 million cubic meters. Construction on the 3-mln-cubic-meter first phase of the reserve base will be completed in October 2010, said Sun Longde, vice president of PetroChina Co.

The first phase costs 2.65 billion yuan ($388 mln) and covers 95 hectares. The 30 oil tanks, with each having a capacity of 100,000 cubic meters, will be filled up mainly by the crude from Kazakhstan and Russia. PetroChina's Dushanzi refiner has earlier built a 1.4-mln-cubic-meter commercial oil reserve.

China had filled up the first phase of four strategic oil reserves in eastern cities of Zhenhai, Huangdao, Dalian and Zhoushan by early 2009, and plans to build up oil reserves amounting to 100 days of imports by 2020 after filling up the second and third phases of strategic oil reserve bases.

Also yesterday, China started building another six energy projects in Xinjiang, including three power plants, a power grid, an LNG (liquefied natural gas) plant, and a coal mine, said the National Energy Administration.

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