February 1, 2012 [Reuters] - Sinopec Group, parent of top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp, has begun operating a 20 million-barrel crude oil reserve base in northern China, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.
The storage in Caofeidian area of Hebei province contains 32 tanks each with a capacity of 100,000 cubic metres, Xinhua said without specifying whether the tanks are for strategic or commercial use.
The government of Caofeidian has said on its website (www.caofeidian.gov.cn) that the tank farm, equivalent to about 20 million barrels, at a total cost of 2.62 billion yuan ($415.3 million), is a commercial crude reserve base.
