China's largest crude oil storage tanks, located in Shanshan county, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, have started operation, said sources with Xinjiang Oilfield Corporation, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

The first phase of the project includes 10 100,000-cu-m tanks, which will store domestic crude and fuel imported from Kazakhstan, according to a report by Shanghai Securities News, citing Wang Yuehua, a manager of CNPC's Xinjiang Oilfield Corporation.

Covering an area of 32 hectares, the project will have 8 million cu m of storage capacity at a cost of 6.5 billion yuan, once all the planned reserve tanks are ready for use.