Shandong Province-based Chinese steel producer Jinan Iron and Steel Co., subsidiary of Shandong Steel and Iron Co., has successfully won an order for 4,500 mt of oil tank steel sheets tendered by China National Petroleum Corporation's (CNPC) subsidiary Lanzhou Chemical Co. for CNPC's national oil reserve project. Starting in 2009, Jigang has supplied a total of over 20,000 mt of steel sheets for oil tanks within the scope of China's national oil reserve project.
China had long been dependant on imports to meet its needs for steel sheets for oil tanks. After many years of research, Jinan Steel has developed high strength steel sheet for use in the construction of 100,000 m3 oil tanks. In 2007, Jinan Steel supplied its first batch of steel sheets for oil tanks to the Zhejiang Zhoushan national oil reserve base. The producer's annual output of oil tank steel sheets has risen from an initial 1,700 mt to 20,000 mt.