Pradhan praise for crude oil reserve proposal

Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday welcomed the announcement of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyfor construction of strategic crude oil reserves a

BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday welcomed the announcement of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyfor construction of strategic crude oil reserves at two more locations including Chandikhole in Jajpur district.

The Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) had submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Finance last year seeking financial assistance for construction of the two strategic petroleum reserves in the second phase, Pradhan told this paper. The Phase-II storage will have a total capacity of 10 million tonnes.

The Chandikhole facility will have a storage capacity of 4.4 million tonnes and it has been estimated to cost around `5000 crore. The storage at Chandikhole will be an underground rock cavern, Pradhan said. At present, India has three underground caverns at Visakhapatnam (1.33 million tonnes), Mangalore (1.5 million tonnes) and Padur (2.5 million tonnes).

The crude oil stock in the three storage facilities will be enough to meet nation's oil requirement of about 10 days, he said. Pradhan also thanked Jaitley for making budgetary provision for 2,000 kms of coastal roads which will facilitate better connectivity with ports and remote villages. The State Government proposal for construction of a 451-km long highway along the coast line has been approved by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

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