ONGC will set up one point seven five million metric tonnes (mn t) of storage at Mangaluru in Karnataka, with half the capacity earmarked for strategic reserves and the remainder for commercial operations. The government told Parliament that the project will be fully funded by ONGC and that the minister provided the information in a written reply. The minister did not specify whether the facility will be limited to crude oil or will also handle liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas.

Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited has acquired and registered land for a proposed four mn t strategic reserve at Chandikhol in Odisha and the project has moved to the bidding stage. The work on the draft request for proposal and the concession agreement is being finalised and the government estimated the development cost at Rs 90 billion (bn). The minister said the project is expected to boost the gross domestic product of the state and to increase ancillary economic activity, and preliminary assessments indicate the potential to generate employment for about 4000 persons per day during the construction phase and about 150 persons per day during operations.

The Phase two tranche approved in July 2021 envisages development of the four mn t facility at Chandikhol and a two point five mn t facility at Padur in Karnataka, taking total Phase two capacity to six point five mn t. Under Phase one the special purpose vehicle had already established strategic crude storage with a combined capacity of five point three three mn t across Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur. The capacities at the individual sites were one point three three mn t at Visakhapatnam, one point five mn t at Mangaluru and two point five mn t at Padur.

The government added that India possesses extensive crude oil and petroleum product storage across refineries, terminals, offshore tankage and a pipeline network of more than 35,000 km. Collectively the national capacity is equivalent to meet 74 days of net crude import requirements, the reply said.