Ningbo city in East China's Zhejiang province is planning to establish an international energy trading center that when completed will have far-reaching influence.

Under a plan covering the next five to 15 years, the new center will help speed up the construction of the Ningbo area of the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and target meeting China's major strategic resources needs.

The details were outlined in the Ningbo New International Energy Trade Center Construction Plan, which was recently issued by the Ningbo municipal government office.

The plan proposes that by 2025, Ningbo will have attracted 100 world-renowned petroleum service companies to settle there. 

By that stage, the transaction scale and storage volumes of oil and gas and chemical products are expected to have substantially increased, with the new digital renminbi fully rolled out and the currency internationalized.

Meanwhile, the pricing power and influence of oil and gas and chemical products are projected to have significantly improved within the timeframe.

The plan also envisages that by 2035, Ningbo's oil and gas and chemical product storage and its hydrocarbon trading volumes and transaction scale will have doubled from the levels set in 2025. By then, the city will have emerged as a world-class oil and gas and chemical products distribution center, pricing center and standard-setting center.

The planned Ningbo New International Energy Trade Center will reportedly include an energy distribution center, an energy supply chain innovation pilot zone, a financial and legal service pilot zone, a high-end think tank and a talent pilot zone.

In order to accomplish these ambitious targets, the plan identifies seven major tasks for the construction of the energy trading center. These include exploring the construction of new platforms, new facilities, new services and new models of energy trading.