New Delhi: The government on Wednesday decided to set up two more underground crude oil storages in Odisha and Karnataka to raise emergency stockpile cover to 22 days.
The Cabinet has approved setting up of 4 million tonne (MT) storage at Chandikhole in Odisha and 2.5 MT storage at Padur in Karnataka, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said.
He however did not give details of the cost or the timelines, saying this is just an in-principle approval and detailed engineering will decide the two factors. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The storages will be additional to the existing rock caverns to shore 5.33 MT of crude — Visakhapatnam (1.33 MT), Mangalore (1.5 MT) and Padur (2.5 MT).
“The total 5.33 MT capacity under Phase-1 of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) programme is estimated to supply approximately 10 days of India’s crude requirement according to the consumption data for 2016-17.
“Cabinet’s approval for establishing additional 6.5 MT SPR facilities will provide an additional supply of about 12 days and is expected to augment India’s energy security,” he said.
According to an official statement, the government had announced setting up of two additional SPRs during 2017-18 Budget. Then finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced plans to build two more storages with a combined capacity of 10 MT.
Mr Goyal however did not say on why the storage capacity in the second phase is less than the previously announced.
The approval includes construction of dedicated SPMs (Single Point Mooring) that would be used for importing crude oil for the SPRs.
