The government will set up two additional underground crude oil storages in the states of Odisha and Rajasthan, aimed at safeguarding the country from volatility in the global oil market.
In the second phase, the government proposes to build two reserves facilities. One of 4.4 million tonne at Chandikhol in Odisha, and the other of 5.6 million tonne at Bikaner in Rajasthan. The storage in Odisha will be an underground rock cavern, while that in Rajasthan will be underground salt caverns. The facilities are expected to be completed in three to four years.
In the first phase, the government constructed underground reserves in rock caverns at Visakhapatnam of 1.33 million tone; Mangaluru of 1.5 million tone; and Padur of 2.5 million tonne.
With this, the overall strategic reserve capacity will be 15.33 million tonne.