The four places are Zhenhai (Zhejiang province), Zhoushan (Zhejiang province), Dalian (Liaoning province) and Huangdao (Shandong province) and were chosen based on their proximity to ports, pipelines and refineries.

The country had decided to begin stocking oil since January and is looking to invest around US$100 billion over the next 20 years to establish the reserves. These reserves will be state-owned, although they can be (and will be) supplemented by company reserves.

China hopes to store crude oil, refined oil and, perhaps, LPG and LNG as well.