From Marine Logistics Professional, September 21:
China is directing authorities in East China’s Zhejiang province to start planning to build stockpiling bases for energy and agricultural products, part of a push to develop regional free-trade zones (FTZs), a government document said on Monday.
The directives call for looking at building above-ground and underground facilities to stockpile oil, gas and chemicals in FTZs that encompass 120 square km (46 square miles), including in parts of provincial cities Ningbo, Hangzhou and Jinyi.
“(The government will) support experiments to build oil and gas reserves, to undertake greater tasks of government stockpiling and also boost corporate stockpiling,” China’s State Council, the country’s Cabinet, said in the policy document.
This would expand a plan to build Zhejiang’s Zhoushan port, made up of many islands, into a marine fuel hub to challenge Singapore, the world’s largest supplier of ship bunkers.
The oil storage facilities, once built, would have the potential to become part of China’s national reserves, it said....MORE