TIANJIN, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Tianjin will build a 200,000-cubic meter oil storage plant by 2015, taking the number of such large-scale plants to four in this north China's port city.

The new storage unit, by the joint venture Shell Oil Group of North China, will be built in the Binhai New Zone in two phases. The first one will be put into operation in 2013, with 55,000 cubic meters of oil storage tanks and supporting facilities, while the second phase will kick off in 2014 and be completed in 2015.

The storage plant, with a total investment of 550 million yuan (87 million U.S. dollars), is expected to handle 3 million tonnes of oil products and generate an annual sales revenue of 24 billion yuan.

Three large oil storage plants have already been built in Tianjin, all undertaken by domestic oil companies, including a 3.2-million-cubic-meter Tianjin base for national crude oil strategic reserve, a 3.2-million- cubic-meter crude oil reserve for commercial use, and a 1-million-cubic-meter commercial crude oil reserve.