India plans to develop the second phase of its strategic petroleum reserve programme at an estimated cost of Rs 14,527 crore under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, with government viability gap funding capped at 60 per cent of the total project cost, the government said on Thursday.The Phase-II expansion, approved in July 2021, will add 6.5 million tonnes of commercial-cum-strategic crude oil storage capacity through two facilities in Odisha (4 million tonnes) and Karnataka (2.5 million tonnes), Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
The government is also continuously assessing new sites for establishing additional strategic petroleum reserves, the minister said.
Under Phase-I, India, through Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd (ISPRL), has established strategic petroleum reserve facilities with a total capacity of 5.33 million tonnes at Visakhapatnam (1.33 million tonnes), Mangaluru (1.5 million tonnes), and Padur (2.5 million tonnes).
The facilities were commissioned between 2016 and 2018, and the quantity of crude stored in the caverns varies depending on prevailing market conditions.
No Government Budgetary Support was provided for development and construction of SPR facilities under Phase-I. For development of SPR facilities under Phase-II, a public private partnership model is envisaged with a total project cost of Rs 14,527 crore with the viability gap funding (VGF) by the government capped at 60 per cent of the total project cost,” he said.
