Pei was speaking at a conference on strategic oil reserves being organised by the US Energy Department, according to reports in the Associated Press and Dow Jones newswires.

“We will use the IEA 90-day guideline," Pei said.

"However, due to the specific situation in China, we will start with a lower number and increase as it evolves.”

Four sites have been identified to serve as the strategic storage areas: Zhenhai and Aoshan in Zhejiang, Huangdao in Shandong and Dalian in Liaoning with a combined capacity of 14 million metric tonnes.

But plans are only in place for the Zhenhai facility and Pei could not confirm how much will be added to the reserves this year or next. It is believed, though, Zhenhai will have a stockpile of 4.1 million tonnes in 52 storage tanks by 2007 in a process thought to cost around US$411 million.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes China will only start filling the tanks next year. China is working closely with the IEA in the building of the reserves.

“My understanding is China was using the year 2004 to actually build the tanks, and it is prepared to fill them progressively starting the year 2005,” said IEA executive director Claude Mandil.