China's filling of its first-ever strategic oil stockpile will be a gradual process and shouldn't affect global oil prices in a significant way, The Wall Street Journal reported. "The stockpiling effort is likely to persist for tens of years, so it really doesn't matter when China starts filling these reserves," said Xu Yongsheng, deputy director of the energy bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission. "Also, given the limited volume that China's going to fill, it won't have too much impact on international oil prices," said Xu. China is pushing ahead on a long-held oil-reserve plan aimed at cushioning its rapidly expanding economy from potential supply disruptions or price volatility, wrote the paper. China's stockpiling plan has sparked concerns that any oil buying would lift oil prices to more records. As it is, China is Asia's No. 1 oil consumer.