China's Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) said on Tuesday it approved an additional 600,000 cubic metres of storage in northeast China owned by PetroChina International as delivery tanks for crude oil futures.

The new approval raised the INE warehouse space at the PetroChina site in Dalian to a total of 1.8 million cubic metres, or about 11 million barrels.

The exchange has been expanding warehouse capacity for crude oil futures since April as strong demand from investors attracted physical deliveries and effectively contributed to China's stockpiling of crude oil.

 

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu, editing by Louise Heavens) ((aizhu.chen@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3284; Reuters Messaging: aizhu.chen.reuters.com@reuters.net))