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China opens national oil reserve bases for media visit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-03 19:14

NINGBO - China opened its national oil reserve bases to domestic and foreign media for the first time Wednesday since the bases were built.

A total of 26 media organizations, including the Associated Press and the Reuters, visited the Zhenhai national oil reserve base in eastern Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province Wednesday.

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The base, with a storage space of 5.2 million cubic meters, was completed in October, 2006 and passed government quality inspection one year later.

China started to build national oil reserve bases as early as in 2003 to offset oil supply risks and reduce the impact of fluctuating energy prices.

The first phase of the national oil reserve project also includes another three bases in Zhoushan in Zhejiang Province, Huangdao in eastern Shandong Province and Dalian in northeastern Liaoning Province.

The 4-day-long visit includes a wind power plant in eastern Jiangsu Province, national oil reserve bases in Zhenhai and Zhoushan, and the Sanmen nuclear power plant in Zhejiang's Taizhou City.