China grew the crude oil volumes in its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) by nearly 14 percent between June 2016 and June 2017, data from the National Energy Administration (NEA) showed, picking up the stockpiling pace from the previous six months. China had stored 37.73 million tonnes, or 275 million barrels, in nine bases by mid-2017, up from 33.25 million tonnes at the end of June the previous year, the NEA data showed.

China rarely releases data on its SPR volumes and this is the first update in eight months of its crude oil reserves. Adding 4.48 million tonnes of crude oil over the 12 months to June 2017 is equivalent to adding 89,600 barrels of oil per day (bpd). That's higher than the average rate of 52,000 bpd in the first half of 2016, but much lower than the filling rate of 240,000 bpd notched in 2015.

"Stockpiling picked up in the second half of 2016 as the government took advantage of lower crude prices and filled up some newly built tanks," said Emma Li, senior analyst with Thomson Reuters Oil Research. Li said the filling speed eased again in the third and fourth quarter this year after crude oil prices rebounded. Stronger demand from refineries this year also meant SPR sites needed to wait longer to get crude volumes from the ports.

China is planning to accelerate construction for the second phase of its SPR and push forward the third phase, according to a government statement in July.

Copyright Reuters, 2017