Bhubaneswar: Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan Wednesday urged his cabinet colleague in Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry Hardeep Singh Puri, and Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to expedite implementation of the proposed ‘Strategic Petroleum Reserve’ (SPR) project in Jajpur district.
The issue has been in focus since the breakout of war in West Asia snapped the supply of crude oil, natural gas and LPG from Gulf countries to India.
The proposed 4 million metric ton (MMT) capacity SPR project at Chandikhole in Jajpur district was about strengthening the country’s energy security in the future, Pradhan said to Puri and Majhi in separate letters.
Pradhan, a former petroleum and natural gas ministry, urged the authorities to take steps for early completion and expeditious operationalisation of the SPR project.
He said the Union Cabinet June 27, 2018, had approved this project at Chandikhol to be built at an investment of Rs 8,743 crore.
“I had written a letter to the then Chief Minister in this regard, but it could not be implemented. In the next phase, April 8, 2025, in New Delhi, in the presence of Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, Chief Minister of Odisha Mohan Charan Majhi and myself, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha Limited, Odisha Govt and Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited and the work has progressed,” Pradhan said.
The proposed project will be the world’s largest underground crude oil storage facility. It will create direct and indirect employment opportunities for over 5,000 people, he said.
Pradhan noted that India currently has an oil storage capacity of 9.5 days. When the Chandikhol project becomes operational, it will add an additional 7.12 days to the country’s crude oil requirement.
The project will make a significant contribution to Odisha’s GDP and will boost the transport, hospitality and construction industries, he said, adding that the storage will act as a ‘buffer stock’ for the country in times of oil price volatility or supply disruption in the global market.
Apart from this, the project will make Odisha the main driver of industrial and economic growth in eastern India and fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Mission Purvoday’. The project will not only ensure energy security but also boost the country’s economy and will be of particular help in times of emergency, he said.
India, the world’s third-largest energy consumer and heavily dependent on imports for about 88 per cent of its crude oil needs, has built strategic underground storage facilities with a total capacity of 5.33 million tonnes across three locations — Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Mangaluru and Padur in Karnataka — to store crude oil used for producing fuels such as petrol and diesel.
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