As befits their status as Asia's biggest oil importers, China and India are moving ahead with the expansion of their strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) as they seek to shore up emergency stockpiles to shield their economies from any oil supply shocks. But for a variety of reasons, work is advancing only slowly — the cost of such facilities remains high, while ample supply in world oil markets has removed any sense of urgency. Local issues are also at play, including India's notorious bureaucracy and the anticorruption probe currently sweeping through China's oil sector.
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