Following reports from the National Development and Reform
Commission, three candidate sites have been chosen as potential
phase two strategic oil reserves. A source at the NDRC has revealed
that the candidate sites are Caofeidian in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, Nansha of Guangzhou City and
Bao'an of Shenzhen City.
"We are now devoted to becoming one of the phase two oil reserve
bases. It will mainly store imported crude oil, with planned
capacity of over 15 million cubic meters," an official with
Caofeidian Industrial Zone told 21st Century Business
Herald on January 29.
Last October marked the beginning of construction on three oil
reserve bases in Zhenhai of Ningbo City, Huangdao of Qingdao City,
Daishan of Zhoushan City, and Dalian. Zhenhai oil base near Ningbo
was completed last August and was fully operational by last
October. The other three oil bases are expected to be completed in
2008.
A notable gap in the strategic oil reserve network is the
absence of any such installation in the region of north China
encompassing Beijing and Tianjin.
To remedy this, the Caofeidian Industrial Zone has signed a deal
with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to build a dock
able to handle up to 300,000 tons of crude oil. It is ready to be
constructed pending government approval.
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"The deep-water dock will be the precondition of strategic oil
bases," the official said.
For Nansha near Guangzhou, the petrochemical industry is one of
the town's pillar industries. In 2006, Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum
Corporation set up a joint venture there involving over US$5
billion in investment and encompassing an oil refinery and an
ethylene plant. Both of these are firing on all cylinders with the
oil refinery generating an annual production capacity of 12 million
tons while the ethylene plant's production stands at 1 million tons
annually. Nansha also hosts oil storage facilities for Sinopec,
Titan Petrochemical Group Ltd. and BP.
"Titan Petrochemical has 28 oil tanks and a combined storage
capacity of over 1 million tons, while Sinopec, whose project will
be finished in the latter part of this year, is expected to store
over 600,000 cubic meters," according to a source with Nansha
Development Zone.
Last August, the local government built a petrochemical dock,
the largest such in the Pearl River region. The capacities of its
13 berths range from 1,000 to 50,000 tons for a combined handling
capacity of 12.36 million tons.
Shenzhen, another booming city in Guangdong Province, is the final candidate for
the phase two plan. The city seems well-prepared, earmarking an
area in Bao'an District to gather processed oil storage. Reports
state that the planned zone will cover 800,000 cubic meters,
dividing this capacity into 600,000 cubic meters for government
buildings and 200,000 cubic meters for enterprises. The main
construction on the storage zone is set to take place in 2008.
Last year, the Guangdong provincial government applied to both
the NDRC and the National Oil Reserve Office to establish national
oil reserve bases in Huizhou, Maoming, Zhanjiang, Shenzhen and
Zhuhai.
According to the NDRC's plan, the construction of oil bases will
undergo three separate phases. The phase one capacity will involve
10 to 12 million tons, with the capacity set to rise to 28 million
tons for both the second and third phases.
(China.org.cn by Tang Fuchun, February 15, 2007)?
