For the first time ever, the Chinese government published data on its strategic petroleum reserves, saying it had about 91 million spare barrels on hand.

The National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday the first phase of an oil reserve project was completed and in service with enough oil on hand for nine days of energy needs.

The first phase consists of four basins and is part of an oil reserve program launched in 2004. The government said the program is part of a way to offset oil supply risks and reduce the impact to fluctuating energy prices globally.

The petroleum reserve is modeled after the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve, which holds more than 700 million barrels in spare capacity in salt caverns along the southern Gulf Coast.

In October, the Wall Street Journal reported state-run China National Petroleum Corp. was taking advantage of the bear market for crude oil by buying up dozens of cargoes of crude oil to stock its fledgling strategic reserve program.

The International Energy Agency recommends countries keep the equivalent of 90 days worth of imports on hand in strategic reserves. While far short of that recommendation, China said it plans to expand the program to include two more strategic reserve basins.

China is not a member of the IEA, formed in part in response to the oil embargo imposed on Western powers by Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

OPEC in its annual world oil outlook report said more than 70 percent of growth in oil demand is coming from expanding Asian economies.

Chinese government data show crude oil imports were up 18 percent in October year-on-year,