China will build up its strategic oil reserves as part of measures to cope with rising global oil prices and possible fuel shortages, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said during his official visit in Vietnam.

Other measures include promoting energy conservation, especially for crude oil; fully utilising China’s coal supplies and alternative energy resources; increasing upstream exploration and exploitation; and developing stable supply channels for oil and gas, Chinese-language newspaper Hong Kong Commercial Daily News reported.
Wen is in Hanoi to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting, an informal summit of 38 nations.
Earlier, mainland state media also reported that China could start its national oil stockpiling program as early as next year, depending on the progress of the Zhenhai oil storage terminal construction in eastern Zhejiang province, citing unidentified sources with China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
The Chinese central government has picked Aoshan and Zhenhai in Zhejiang, Huangdao in eastern Shandong province and Dalian in northern Liaoning Province, as sites for the first phase of its strategic oil stockpiling program.
The first phase will have a combined crude storage capacity of 16 million cu m (about 13.8-mil tonnes) at the four locations.
Sinopec Zhenhai Refining and Chemical, which has been commissioned by the government to build a 5.2m cu m first-phase storage in Zhenhai, expects construction to be completed in 2006.
Senior executives with PetroChina and Sinopec have said recently that the two state-controlled oil companies have raised their crude inventory to 20 days of their consumption, from the previous 15 days, starting this year upon request by the government.
The size of the first-phase national stockpile storage suggests it would be able to store volumes equivalent to 20-21 days of consumption.