EPS100Momentum's  Instablog

What does this mean? It means that it see's use doubling so it is increasing capacity by double by 2013.

China is moving quickly on construction of its Phase II strategic petroleum reserve and FACTS Global Energy believes most SPR Phase II sites will come on stream by 2012-13, doubling China's SPR capacity. China will also expand commercial crude storage capacity by about 18 million cu m (about 113 million bbl) by end 2012.

As a market with huge growth potential, China has also attracted interest in its crude storage business from foreign companies. But barriers for foreign investment in the crude oil storage business, however, still exist.

The rapid expansion of Chinese crude oil storage capability, coupled with the robust growth in oil demand, will substantially increase China's demand for crude imports.

China became the world's second largest crude oil importer in 2009 and is set to import even more crude in the future to feed its rapidly expanding refining sector in the face of stagnant domestic production growth. The increased imports have prompted expansion of crude storage facilities, both strategic and commercial.

Storage capacity and flow of crude in and out of storage facilities have become one of the major factors in determining China's demand for imported oil. As a market with huge growth potential, China has also attracted investment interest in its crude storage business from foreign companies.

This article updates developments in China's strategic petroleum reserve and commercial crude storage since 2009 (OGJ, Sept. 21, 2009, p 64).

China's SPR

Fig. 1 shows the time line of China's SPR program, the primary goal of which is to reduce the impact of potential crude oil supply disruptions. China officially formalized the SPR program in the 10th Five-Year Program in 2001 and construction started on the 5.8 million cu m Zhenhai base 3 years later, completing SPR Phase I with a total capacity of 16.4 million cu m in 2008