Chinese President Hu Jintao discussed with Saudi leaders during his current visit a proposal to set up a strategic oil reserve in China fed by Saudi supplies, a Chinese official told AFP Sunday.
The plan was raised during Hu's talks with King Abdullah on Saturday and both sides want to see it through, the official said, requesting anonymity.
The reserve would be on top of the oil supplies Saudi Arabia exports to China for its daily needs, and which reached some 22.18 million tons last year, he said.
The reserve would be set up in a coastal city in south-east China, to be used by Beijing in case of emergency.
The official did not say how much oil would eventually be stored in the reserve. But he said Riyadh and Beijing were discussing the feasibility of the plan and ways of co-operating to carry it out.
Hu is scheduled to tour the headquarters of state oil conglomerate Saudi Aramco in the eastern oil hub of Dhahran on Sunday.