Ng Weng Hoong, Contributing Editor, provides an overview of the oil and gas sector in Asia, commenting on China’s dominance over the region’s oil storage and stockpile decisions.
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mid worsening tensions between China and the West, the prospects for conflict in the Asia Pacific region are rising, raising worries about energy security for a region that is increasingly dependent on imports for its oil and gas supplies. Australia has started increasing its oil stockpiles while India has just approved investment to more than double its strategic petroleum storage capacity. China itself has been investing heavily in expanding and upgrading its oil storage and logistical infrastructure. According to the Baker Institute in Texas, US, China has built up enough capacity to officially store
Autumn 2021
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791 million bbl of crude oil and at least 360 million bbl of products. Unofficially, analysts believe China’s crude oil storage capacity exceeds 1.4 billion bbl. Its 210 refineries have a combined capacity to process up to 22.7 million bpd of crude oil. Platts Analytics, an analysis arm of S&P Global, expects China to add 70 million bbl of commercial tank capacity in 2021 to follow through on last year’s increase of 100 million bbl. The Chinese government is becoming more guarded about information pertaining to its oil stockpiling progamme and domestic energy infrastructure. As policy,
