New Delhi: India on Monday signed an initial pact to lease out a part of its underground strategic oil storage at Padur in Karnataka to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) for storing crude oil, the second such deal with the UAE firm this year, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.
India has built 5.33 million tonne (MT) of emergency storage — enough to meet its oil needs for 9.5 days, in underground rock caverns in Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. It has allowed foreign oil companies to store oil in the storages on condition that the stockpile can be used by New Delhi in case of an emergency.
ADNOC had in February this year signed a pact to fill half of the 1.5 MT strategic oil storage at Mangalore. On Monday it signed a similar pact for Padur.
“ISPRL (Strategic Petroleum Reserve entity of India) and ADNOC of UAE signed MoU to explore possibilities of ADNOC investment in filling up of crude oil in Padur strategic reserve in Karnataka,” said Mr Pradhan.
