India will invite bids for stockpiling strategic petroleum reserves in Padur, Karnataka, in the next few months.
“The government is seeking bids to fill 19 million barrels of oil in Padur under the first phase of development in 3-4 months,” HPS Ahuja, chief executive officer of India Strategic Petroleum Reserves, told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Delhi today.
The Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an emergency fuel store of 5.33 million metric tonnes, or 36.92 million barrels, of crude oil that can provide for 10 days of consumption and is maintained by the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd.
India, the world's third-largest importer of oil, is stockpiling oil to offset the pressure of losing Iranian oil amid impending U.S. sanctions. Retail prices of gasoline and diesel in India hit record highs earlier this month after crude oil prices jumped to four-year highs.
As part of the first phase, storage facilities with capacity of nearly 5.33 MMT were created at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangaluru and Padur in Karnataka.
Earlier this week, Ahuja said India is seeking bids from investors to fund the second phase of developing strategic crude reserve sites in six to eight months.
The government in June approved the setting up two strategic petroleum reserve sites worth an estimated $2 billion, with a total capacity of 6.5 million tonnes in Karnataka and Odisha, as part of the second phase.
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