Public bidding for national oil reserve projects started over the weekend, marking the first time that the national oil reserve project was opened to private enterprises, the Beijing Times reported Tuesday, citing a source close to the matter.

Zhao Youshan, head of the Commercial Petroleum Flow Committee of China, said involving private oil enterprises in the national strategic reserve of oil will help private enterprises relieve the pressure of finding oil sources.

China has built several national oil reserve bases, but reserves held by private enterprises and local state-owned enterprises were excluded from the system.

The report said enterprises bidding for the project should meet certain requirements, such as the volume of a single oil storage tank should be no less than 10,000 cubic meters.

Most bidders participating in the project were private enterprises and local state-owned enterprises, and the project is still under evaluation, sources with private enterprises told the newspaper.

Reserve capacities of private enterprises were scattered and comparatively small, not easy to be managed, but they had been eager to enter the national oil reserve system, according to the report.

(chinadaily.com.cn May 18, 2010)