Four reserves projects will be developed at Aoshan & Zhenhai in the Zhejiang Province, Huangdao in the Shandong Province and Dalian in the Liaoning Province, with the government expected to invest around US$724.9 million.

The central administration office will be affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The brief for the body will be to deal with any "unexpected crises and staving off any serious impact of an oil supply shortage on both economic development and people's daily lives."

Plans for such reserves had been mooted last year but rising domestic demand, an increase in petroleum imports and the high cost of global oil prices, not to mention supply shortages in many cities on China's east coast, have forced the government to take fast and effective measures.

Current statistics indicate that this year alone China imported 72 million tonnes of crude in the first 10 months of the year (last year the figure was 59 million tonnes) and national petroleum consumption so far has reached a staggering 108 million tonnes.