China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) has revealed that the world’s largest LNG storage tank was put into operation at its Qingdao LNG receiving terminal in China.

The construction of the tank with a storage capacity of 270,000 cubic meters began in early 2022 and it was put into service on November 2, 2023.

According to Sinopec, it will add 165 million cubic meters of storage capacity to meet the gas demand of 2.16 million households for five months during the winter heating season, which will enhance and guarantee the natural gas supply in North China.

The LNG storage tank, which is a key project of Qingdao LNG receiving terminal’s phase III construction, was independently designed, developed, and built by Sinopec, featuring a diameter of 100.6 meters and a height of 55 meters.

On the same day, Sinopec’s Tianjin LNG receiving terminal completed the phase II construction with three 220,000-cubic-meter storage tanks coming into full service. This adds over 400 million cubic meters of natural gas storing capacity to bring the total storage capacity of Tianjin terminal to 1.08 billion cubic meters, the largest in China.

Sinopec’s two LNG terminals in Qingdao and Tianjin, with seven and nine storage tanks respectively, have a total of 1.68 billion cubic meters of storage capacity.

Looking ahead, Sinopec aims to build more natural gas storage depots and LNG receiving terminals in China to further strengthen the natural gas storage and peak gas consumption adjustment capabilities and expand LNG storage capacities during its five-year plan.