Cabinet okays inviting foreign national oil companies to fill Padur reserves

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved filling of Padur Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) at Padur, Karnataka by overseas national oil companies in order to strengthen the oil reserves in the country.

"As per our new system, we are also inviting foreign companies under PPP model. Overseas national oil companies will come and through proper tendering process will help establish a strategic oil reserve at Padur," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

"A total of Rs 10,000 crore will be saved with the construction of this inventory," he added while briefing media on cabinet decisions.

The SPR facility at Padur is an underground rock cavern with a total capacity of 2.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) having four compartments of 0.625 MMT each. 

"The filling of the SPR under PPP model is being undertaken to reduce budgetary support of Government of India," the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a statement.

The Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) has constructed and commissioned underground rock caverns for storage of total 5.33 MMT of crude oil at three locations namely Vishakhapatnam (1.33 MMT), Mangalore (1.5 MMT) and Padur (2.5 MMT).

The total 5.33 MMT capacity under Phase-I of the SPR program is estimated to supply about 95 days of India's crude requirement according to the consumption data for fiscal 2017-18, the statement said. 

Further, the government has given in-principle approval in June 2018 to establish additional 6.5 MMT SPR facilities at Chandikhol in Odisha and Padur in Karnataka, the Ministry said.

This is likely to augment India's energy security by 11.5 days as per the consumption data for financial year 2017-18, it added.-IANS