Rival Sinopec has recently won government approval to build 2.4 million cubic metres of crude oil storage tanks in Rizhao in eastern Shandong province, the local Qilu Evening News reported.
State refiner Sinopec Corp and PetroChina are the backbone builders of crude tanks to service their expanding refining capacity.
China rarely publishes storage data for state oil companies, but one logistics executive with a state-run firm in April put the total crude tank space at 40 million cu.m (252 million barrels) and products at 50 million cu.m (315 million barrels).
A senior PetroChina official said China’s total refined oil products storage capacity hit 52 million cu.m (327.6 million barrels) at the end of 2008, growing by an average annual rate of 9 percent from 40 million cu.m in 2004.
The official also estimated that Chinese oil firms would expand their products tanks to 70 million cu.m (441 million barrels) by 2015.
By 2015, the top two oil firms’ refined products capacity is likely to exceed 40 million cu.m (252 million barrels) from the current level of 27.68 million cu.m while private firms’ capacity is to hit 28 million cu.m (176.4 million barrels) from the existing 24.36 million cu.m, the official said.
State oil trader Sinochem Corp plans to add 2.5 million barrels of depots in the southern city of Zhuhai by 2010, to store fuel oil and products, industry website C1 has reported.
China’s private investors are also joining a rapidly expanding oil storage business long driven by state oil companies, lured by hopes of market opening and Beijing’s call to boost reserves.
From blanket makers to auto part manufacturers, scores of private entrepreneurs have since 2008 been erecting depots along the coast from Dalian in the north to Shenzhen in south, inspired by Beijing’s plan to build oil reserve after oil’s sharp fall from last summer.
But analysts warned the building frenzy by the private sector, which focuses on refined fuel tanks, could leave many tanks idle.
China’s independent oil firms — wholesalers and small refineries — already claim to run a total of 250 million cubic metres tankages, most of which store fuels instead of crude oil, said Zhao Youshan, head of China Fuel Distribution Association.
The following gives a glimpse of commercial storage facilities in use and being built or planned, according to Chinese media reports and industry officials. The data does not cover China’s strategic crude reserve.
Capacity in cubic metres
Facility Location Capacity Builder
Aoshan Zhejiang 1,960,000 Sinochem
CezidaoI Zhejiang 600,000 Sinopec
CezidaoII Zhejiang 200,000 Sinopec
Daxiedao Zhejiang 830,000 Sinopec
Huangdao Shandong 2,100,000 Sinopec
Zhanjiang Guangdong 860,000 Sinopec
Zhanjiang Guangdong 1,950,000 PetroChina
Dalian Shandong 1,750,000 PetroChina
Caofeidian Hebei 800,000 Sinopec
Hengxin Zhejiang 370,000 Daxie Hengxin
Qingzhi Zhejiang 150,000 Ningbo Haineng
Ganghong Zhejiang 190,000 Sinopec
CengangI Zhejiang 134,000 Zhejiang Haihua
CengangII Zhejiang 256,000 Zhejiang Haihua
Dongfang Shanghai 223,500 Sinochem
YangshanI Zhejiang 420,000 PetroChina
Haibin Shanghai 300,000 PTR/Chimbusco
Nantong Jiangsu 238,000 Sinochem
Nantong Jiangsu 210, 000 Dongfang Shihua
Yanghong Jiangsu 223,000 Yanghong Shihua
Jiamin Jiangsu 156,000 Jiamin Gangchu
Baishawan I Shanghai 800,000 Sinopec
Baishawan II Shanghai 600,000 Sinopec
Guanghui Shenzhen 400,000 Brightway
Shanshan Xinjiang 1,000,000 PetroChina
Zhenhai Zhejiang 3,800,000 Sinopec
Huizhou Guangdong 1,000,000 CNOOC
Tanks Under Construction or planned:
Facility Location Capacity Builder Startup
Gaolangang I Zhuhai 540,000 PetroChina Mar 2010
Gaolangang II Zhuhai 460,000 PetroChina n/a
Rizhao Shandong 2,400,000 Sinopec n/a
Pengzhou Sichuan 1,000,000 PetroChina n/a
Xiaohudao Guangdong 765,000 PetroChina 2009
Daqing Daqing 1,500,000 PetroChina 2010
Daxie Zhejiang 1,300,000 PetroChina July
Chuanshan Zhejiang 196,000 Gangxin n/a
Wanxiang Zhejiang 570,000 Wanxiang n/a
Jinrun Zhejiang 500,000 Jinrun 2009/2010
Xixiezhi Zhejiang 250,000 Jianqiao 2009
Yangshan II Zhejiang 2,280,000 PetroChina n/a
Taipingyang Zhejiang 400,000 Zhoushan Century Pacific Chemicals Co., Ltd 2009, Q3
Yangzhou Jiangsu 236,000 Sinochem n/a
Bailian Shanghai 200,000 RL Pudong 2009, Q3
Guanghui I Shanghai 140,000 Brightway 2010
Guanghui II Shanghai 160,000 Brightway 2011
Guanghui Shenzhen 600,000 Brighway 2010
Wangjiagou I Xinjiang 150,000 PetroChina Oct
WangjiagouII Xinjiang 300,000 PetroChina 2010
Yangpu Hainan 5,000,000 Vopak/China 2011
Lanzhou Gansu 2,000,000 PetroChina 2011
Gaolangang Zhuhai 410,000 Sinochem 2010
TOTAL 21,357,000
