Royal Dutch Shell's Chinese joint venture, Shell North China Petroleum Group, has signed an agreement with the Nangang Industry Zone to build a storage facility in Tianjin that would hold 200,000 cubic meters of oil, according to an e-mailed statement from the zone's management committee.

The move will help further expand the global energy giant's business in China, the statement says.

The project, budgeted at 550 million yuan, is expected to start in June and finish one year later.