Towards the energy security mandate of the country, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India has recently decided to create Strategic Petroleum Reserves. Under Phase I storage program, three facilities have been created at Vishakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur, with a total storage capacity of 5.33 MMT. The storage facility entails storage of crude oil in underground rock caverns,
Under Phase II storage program, plans currently are afoot to create Strategic Petroleum Reserves at two locations, namely Chandikhol in Odisha and Bikaner in Rajasthan which entails storage of crude oil in underground rock caverns and underground salt caverns respectively. Government of India is considering the proposal for establishment of Phase II storage program for a total storage capacity of 10.0 MMT which includes 4.4 MMT storage capacity at Chandikhol and 5.6 MMT storage capacity at Bikaner.
In this connection, Secretary, MoP&NG, Shri K.D.Tripathi, senior officials of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd & Engineers India Limited recently visited the proposed site near Chandikhol along with the revenue officials of the State Govt. of Odisha. The estimated capital cost for Chandikhol project is approx. Rs 5000Crore.