New Delhi: India will have a crude oil storage capacity of 87 days instead of 65 days earlier after the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) facilities at Chandikole in Odisha and Padur in Karnataka are completed.
This was stated by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan while addressing a roadshow here Wednesday for creation of reserves in PPP mode. He also said that strategic reserve facility at Chandikole will create job opportunities.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has decided to build SPRs at Chandikole and Padur to ensure that adequate crude oil is available in the country.
He said the Chandikole reserve will have a storage capacity of 4 MMT and Padur will have 2.5 MMT. These two SPRs will hold strategic petroleum reserves required for 12 days in addition to the 10 days of reserves already achieved in Phase I, he added.
Indian refiners maintain 65 days of crude storage, and when added to the storage planned and achieved by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited, India will have a crude oil storage capacity of 87 days.
“India is the third largest consumer of energy and third largest importer of crude oil in the world. With the Indian economy growing rapidly, energy demand is expected to grow rapidly in the next two decades. India needs a very large quantity of petroleum to meet the demand,” said Pradhan.
He said the country is facing severe headwinds from rising oil prices. “We have to mitigate the impact. One of the mitigation measures is to create enough strategic reserves. This will not only help in avoiding shortages in case of supply side disruptions, but also in reducing price volatility,” he added.