Nation to get key oil bases by year end

China will complete the construction of its first four strategic oil reserves by the end of this year, a senior government official said yesterday.

"The progress has been smooth and all the four bases will be completed by the year end," Zhang Guobao, administrator of the National Energy Administration (NEA), said after a press conference in Beijing. "Their total capacity will amount to 16.4 million cu m."

Zhang made the comments at his first public appearance since the NEA's inauguration on Aug 8.