23-Nov-2021: Release of Crude Oil from Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves

India strongly believes that the pricing of liquid hydrocarbons should be reasonable, responsible and be determined by market forces. India has repeatedly expressed concern at supply of oil being artificially adjusted below demand levels by oil producing countries, leading to rising prices and negative attendant consequences.

India has agreed to release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves. This release will happen in parallel and in consultation with other major global energy consumers including the USA, People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Hon’ble Prime Minister Modi has been consistently reviewing the high petroleum/diesel prices domestically. In a bid to control inflationary pressures, Government of India had reduced the ‘central excise duty’ on petrol and diesel by Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 respectively on 3 November 2021. It was followed by reduction in VAT on fuel by many state governments. These difficult steps, despite the high fiscal burden on the Government, were taken in order to provide relief to citizens.

12-Nov-2018: ISPRL Signs Memorandum of Understanding with ADNOC to explore storage of Crude Oil at Padur Underground Facility in Karnataka.

Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd(ISPRL) signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Abu Dhabi with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to explore the possibility of storing ADNOC crude oil at ISPRL’s underground oil storage facility at Padur in Karnataka, which has a 2.5 million tonne capacity. Under the MoU, ADNOC is expected to store crude in compartments at Padur.

The MoU with ISPRL, an Indian government-owned company mandated to store crude oil for emergency needs, follows the arrival, on November 4, of the final shipment of the initial delivery of ADNOC crude to be stored in another ISPRL underground facility at Mangalore, also in Karnataka, which will store 5.86 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil. 

ADNOC is the only foreign oil and gas company, so far, to invest by way of crude oil in India’s strategic petroleum reserves program.

ISPRL has already built 5.33 million tonnes of underground storage capacity at three locations - Visakhapatnam (1.33 million tonnes), Mangalore (1.5 million tonnes) and Padur (2.5 million tonnes), that can meet around 9.5 days of the country’s oil needs as per consumption data of last financial year. The government of India, in June 2018, announced the creation of two new reserves, a 4 million tonnes storage facility at Chandikhol in the eastern state of Odisha and an additional 2.5 million-tonne facility at Padur.

The existing and newly announced strategic reserve facilities put together will provide around 21 days of emergency coverage for India’s crude oil requirements.