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India to Reportedly Reserve Half of ONGC Oil Storage Facility for Strategic Stocks

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India will reserve half of a planned 1.75 million-metric-ton oil storage facility being built by state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation for the country's strategic petroleum reserves, news outlets reported Monday.

India's largest oil and gas explorer last month announced plans to build the storage facility at Mangaluru in the southern state of Karnataka, where its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals operates a 300,000-barrel-per-day refinery.

The project is part of New Delhi's broader push to expand its Strategic Petroleum Reserve capacity with private sector participation.

Under current rules, part of India's existing SPR capacity can be used for commercial purposes. The country has 5.33 mmt of strategic storage across three sites in southern India, Mangaluru, Padur and Visakhapatnam, managed by state-owned Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

MRPL has already leased half of the existing 1.5-mmt strategic storage facility at Mangaluru.

Junior oil minister Suresh Gopi reportedly said Monday that India has sufficient crude oil and petroleum product storage to cover 74 days of its net crude import requirements, including inventories held in refinery tanks, offshore facilities and the country's 35,000 kilometer or 22,000 mile pipeline network.

India is also planning to build about 4 mmt of strategic storage at Chandikhol in the eastern state of Odisha and a new 2.5-mmt facility at Padur in southern India, both in partnership with private companies.

India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas did not immediately respond to' request for comment.

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