BEIJING, March 6 (Xinhua) -- China's southernmost island province of Hainan is actively seeking to establish an oil reserve base, a leading local official said here on Tuesday.
"We are now negotiating with international petroleum syndicates about it, but it's not convenient for me to reveal more detailed information here," said Wei Liucheng, secretary of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Wei also didn't reveal what kind of oil reserve base the one Hainan plans to build will be, just saying that "Hainan boasts distinctive advantages for building both national strategic oil reserve base and commercial oil reserve base".
He pointed out that the tropical island is located near the main international sea routes for oil shipping, and that a 300,000-ton crude oil wharf is already in operation in the Yangpu Economic Development Zone on the island.
China already has four first-phase strategic oil reserve bases under construction, respectively located in Zhenhai, Aoshan of Zhoushan, Huangdao of Qingdao and Dalian.
The construction of the Zhenhai reserve was finished last August, and energy officials announced in early October that crude filling had already started.
Wei is a deputy to the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature now in its annual full session in Beijing. He made the remarks at a panel discussion of lawmakers from Hainanon Tuesday morning, which was open to media coverage.
