India signs deal for Abu Dhabi National Oil Co to store oil at Karnataka's Padur 

This is the second such pact the country has signed with the UAE firm, with the first having been signed in February for oil storage at Mangalore. 
Oil tankers are seen parked at a yard outside a fuel depot. (Photo: File / Reuters)
Oil tankers are seen parked at a yard outside a fuel depot. (Photo: File / Reuters)

NEW DELHI: India and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) on Monday signed a deal which will see India lease out part of its underground strategic oil storage at Padur in Karnataka to the firm for storing crude oil. This is the second such pact the country has signed with the UAE firm, with the first having been signed in February for oil storage at Mangalore. 

The storage being leased out is part of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL), India’s strategic reserve entity that has built 5.33 million tonnes of emergency storage in underground rock caverns in Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. 

“ISPRL (Strategic Petroleum Reserve entity of India) and ADNOC of UAE signed MoU to explore possibilities of ADNOC investment in filling up of crude oil in Padur strategic reserve in Karnataka,” India’s oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is in Abu Dhabi for the agreement signing, tweeted on Monday. 

The agreement allows ADNOC to sell or trade crude oil storage in the storages to local refiners but give the Indian government the first right to the oil in case of an emergency. The deal follows the Cabinet giving the go-ahead for the Padur storage to be leased out to foreign companies under the above conditions. 

A third of the Visakhapatnam facility has been hired by Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, and ADNOC and the Government of India filled the Mangalore storage.

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