China accelerates expansion of its strategic oil reserves

State oil companies, including Sinopec and CNOOC, plan to add at least 169 mbl of storage capacity across 11 sites during 2025 and 2026. Of this, 37 mbl of capacity have already been built. China is rapidly expanding its oil reserve sites as part of a campaign to boost crude stockpiles, an effort that gained urgency following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

China’s government stockpiles consist of dedicated Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) sites established before 2019, as well as more recent “commercial reserves.” Both types serve as emergency reserves, but commercial reserves are managed with greater flexibility under the oversight of the national reserve bureau, allowing state refiners to rotate stockpiles to meet commercial needs. A law passed in January 2025 formalized this integration by defining both government and commercial stocks under a single national reserves framework, requiring companies to maintain government-supervised “social responsibility” reserves.

China maintains secrecy regarding the size of its strategic reserves and does not regularly disclose their volume. In August 2025, the semi-official China Petroleum and Petrochemical Industry Federation announced plans to increase state reserve storage capacity to over 1 Gbl, enough to cover three months of net imports, though no timeline was provided. 

The construction of new oil storage tanks in China’s interior reflects Beijing’s intensified efforts to strengthen energy security. The country’s heavy reliance on foreign oil, primarily transported by tankers, poses a strategic vulnerability that it seeks to mitigate through expanded storage capacity, diversification of import sources, and sustained domestic production.