The government of India gave its in-principle approval for the construction of two more underground crude oil storage facilities in order to increase the country’s emergency stockpile from 12 to 22 days. The government had first announced the setting up of two additional Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) during the 2017-18 Union Budget.
According to local reports, the acting Finance Minister, Piyush Goyal, said the cabinet has approved a 4 million mt storage facility at Chandikhole in Odisha and a 2.5 million mt facility at Padur in Karnataka.
Existing facilities include: Visakhapatnam (1.33 mmt), Mangalore (1.5 mmt) and Padur (2.5 mmt).
It has been reported that the in-principle approval from the Cabinet will enable authorities to take up the project under a public-private participation (PPP) model. However, the terms and conditions of such participation would be determined by the Oil Ministry in consultation with Ministry of Finance.
29th June 2018
