Encouraged by the recently expanded cooperation in energy with the UAE, India’s cabinet has decided to create two more strategic petroleum reserves, the Finance Minister, Piyush Goyal announced yesterday.
NEW DELHI, (Pakistan Point News - 28th Jun, 2018) Encouraged by the recently expanded cooperation in energy with the UAE, India’s cabinet has decided to create two more strategic petroleum reserves, the Finance Minister, Piyush Goyal announced yesterday.
The two new strategic petroleum reserves will have a combined capacity of 6.5 million tonnes, Goyal said after a meeting of the cabinet, presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said India will soon approach potential investors, notably in the Gulf countries to operate the new reserves on a public-private-partnership basis.
When Modi was in Abu Dhabi in February, the two sides signed an agreement to fill two existing strategic reserves in Mangalore with oil supplied by Abu Dhabi. In May, the first shipment of crude of approximately two million tonnes meant for the Mangalore reserve was loaded in Abu Dhabi.
Its arrival in India was subsequently celebrated with great fanfare by India’s oil industry. The new strategic petroleum reserves will be in Chandikhol in Odisha with a four-million-tonnes capacity and at Padur in Karnataka with a 2.5-million-tonnes capacity.
India currently has strategic reserves to meet 10 days requirement of crude. The two new facilities will be provide additional supplies for about 12 more days.
