 | Keeping an eye on the dragon. |
China hopes to have 12 million tons of strategic oil reserves by the end of 2010 from the current level of 2-3 million tons, said an official from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, state press reported Thursday.
Speaking at the 8th US-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum, Chen Deming, deputy director of the NDRC, also suggested planned oil reserves in 2010 will equal one month of China's net import of crude oil, and that number will be raised further, to an equivalent of three months of imports, by 2020, according to the China Daily.
China is the world's second-largest oil consumer after the US.
World crude oil futures prices Wednesday topped USD 79 per barrel, indicating this moment is definitely not a good opportunity to raise national oil reserve levels.
The national strategic oil reserve plan was launched in 2003, and China planned to construct four oil reserve bases along the coastal areas, of which two are already in use. The construction of a third base, with a reserve capacity of three million cubic meters, will be completed by the end of this year and it will start operation next year, the daily said.
Referring to the Sino-US cooperation in terms of oil and gas assets, Chen said he hoped the US would outline clear policy regarding Chinese energy enterprises' procurement of American oil and gas assets. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the third biggest oil company in China, tried in 2005 to buy US oil company Unocal Corp for access to its Asian gas reserves, but dropped the bid after US politicians interfered. Later that year, Chevron Corp, another American oil giant, with a far lower bid than CNOOC, ultimately acquired Unocal.
| So our politicians aren't completely useless. |
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