Filling China's tanks
Beijing is working hard to put its SPR expansion programme back on track
The US may be selling off a substantial amount of its own Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), but China is determined to keep building up its emergency stores of oil. As the White House calls for the sale of 270m barrels of crude from its SPR next year, which would mean the closure of two of four sites on the Gulf Coast, China is pushing ahead with the second stage of a long-term storage plan, now due for completion in 2020, after falling behind schedule. As a study published in July by China's National Natural Science Foundation points out, this would see the construction of eight new sites located in inland regions, most of them near geographically convenient ports serving areas of high dem
Also in this section
10 April 2025
Technology, policy and narrative are the three biggest factors that could change the course of our 2050 outlook
10 April 2025
Latin America’s largest economy expects big uptick in crude this year with the imminent arrival of several FPSOs
9 April 2025
A rising global population and greater urbanisation will mean increasing demand for energy, but what will be up and down in the mix? Petroleum Economist looks out to 2050 again in the second part of our long-term outlook
9 April 2025
AI is powering the Middle East & North Africa’s digital transformation, but can the region meet soaring energy demand sustainably? Small modular reactors may hold the key
