China plans to spend 60 billion yuan (7.5 billion US dollars) in the next 15 years to build oil storage that will hold the nation's emergency stockpile of the fuel, as part of the efforts to guarantee national energy security by diversifying its sources of crude oil away from the Middle East and increasing the share of natural gas and renewables in its energy mix, The Standard reported. China will build 90 million cubic meters of storage facilities to hold its strategic reserve and avoid shortages during times of supply disruption, said the paper, quoted Li Hui, vice president of Sinochem, China's biggest chemical trader, as saying. China's oil demand will increase 6.5 percent this year, the IEA said in an August 11 forecast. It will consume more energy than the United States by 2030, according to a June report by the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Agency. "China may import 300 million tonnes of crude oil in 2020 to supply its energy needs," Li said, "It is very important for China to build up its own reserve." Four oil storage facilities at Zhenhai, Zhoushan and Qingdao in eastern China and Dalian in the north are scheduled to be in place by 2008. The Zhenhai facility was completed in August. The Zhenhai facility is being constructed by China Petrochemical, or Sinopec Group, at a cost of 3.7 billion yuan (462.5 million US dollars) and has a storage capacity of 5.2 million cubic meters. Sinochem is building a strategic oil reserve at nearby Zhoushan, and a company official said earlier this month there were plans to build a crude terminal there, which will be able to handle Very Large Crude Carriers with a maximum load of 300,000 deadweight tons. This has increased speculation that China will import oil for its reserves.