According to top government sources, India has a stockpile of more than 250 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products. This provides a safety net of around seven to eight weeks in the supply chain. The move comes as global geopolitical tensions continue to rise, and there are concerns about the possibility of an energy catastrophe.
Dedicated strategic petroleum reserve sites in the country are located at Mangaluru, Padur, and Visakhapatnam, and above-ground tanks, pipelines, underground strategic caverns, terminal facilities, and cargo vessels in transit make up the various storage systems that hold the reserves, which amount to nearly 4,000 crore litres.
While continuing to import energy from a diverse pool of global sources, officials stated that India currently maintains adequate supplies of crude oil, petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel (ATF), LPG, and LNG to address short-term interruptions.
Furthermore, they denied rumours going around on social media that India’s petroleum supplies are so low that they would run out in 25 days.
Indian officials claim that the country’s present energy security is due to over a decade of deliberate policymaking that has increased storage capacity and diversified the country’s supply.
On top of the usual imports, which still come through several maritime channels, officials underlined that the buffer supplies serve as an extra protection. The majority of India’s oil imports do not pass through the Strait of Hormuz, so even if shipments through that route were delayed, the impact would be limited.
Even in the event of worldwide interruptions, India’s crude imports will continue to flow because 40% of them go through the Strait of Hormuz and 60% go through other corridors.
