China's domestic crude oil inventories surged by nearly a third last year to the equivalent of 34 days of forward demand, showed data of a publication run by state news agency Xinhua.

China's crude oil inventories jumped 30 percent over the past year to stand at 37.20 million tonnes, or near 272 million barrels, by the end of January, data published by China Oil,Gas and Petrochemicals, a biweekly Xinhua publication showed.

Chinese oil demand runs at about 8 million barrels per day (bpd).

While the data appeared to refer only to inventories held by oil companies, with no specific mention of strategic stocks held in the government's newly built 100-million-barrel reserve tanks, it offered rare evidence of long-suspected stockbuilding.

Data on inventories of diesel and gasoline have become more accessible in recent months, but figures for crude stocks --even commercial ones -- are rarely reported in China. In countries such as Japan and the United States, it is reported weekly.

OGP gave no further information or breakdown for the figures, but in the same article sourced information on domestic demand to calculations by experts at CNPC, the state oil company.

Combined with fuel stocks, China's inventories appear to cover the equivalent of about 44 days' worth of demand, approximately half the stocks that members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) are required to hold.

The IEA, which groups industrialised energy consumers who have agreed to use their state-held reserves only in the event of supply emergencies, has encouraged China to share more data about its reserves and steer it away from using stocks to attempt to affect prices, as it does with other commodities.

The rise in crude inventories matches the surge in stocks of gasoline and diesel that had been built up ahead of the Olympics, and remained high afterward as higher pump prices and the onset of a global recession curtailed demand.

Diesel stocks held by CNPC and Sinopec Group, China's main fuel suppliers, reached a record high of 53.8 million barrels by end-January, up 2.87 percent from the end of 2008.

Gasoline stockpiles also increased, but at a slower rate of 0.57 percent from the level at the end of December.

China's monthly net crude oil imports are likely to stay at around 14 million tonnes in coming months as some newly built storage capacity begins stockpiling, the report said.
 

gasoline diesel crude oil

(mln bbls) (mln bbls) (1,000 tons)
Jan. 2008 19.2 23.3 27,863.2
Feb. 2008 20 25.1 28,479.0
Mar. 2008 21 26.1 31,229.8
Apr. 2008 20.2 25.3 32,055.0
May 2008 20.3 25.4 35,237.2
Jun. 2008 20.8 26.6 34,285.9
Jul. 2008 24.1 33.7 32,412.9
Aug. 2008 30 46 33,240.9
Sept. 2008 30.9 46.8 33,773.1
Oct. 2008 33.1 51.6 34,912.1
Nov. 2008 34.8 52 35,405.5
Dec. 2008 35.1 52.3 36,605.5
Jan. 2009 35.3 53.8 37,200.0