Amid West Asia Crisis, India's Oil Reserves Can Last For Just Six Days: Report

New Delhi: Amid the crisis in West Asia resulting from the US and Israel’s war on Iran, India’s strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) have just around six days of crude stockpiles, reported Financial Express. According to budget data, while the allocation in the current financial year to fill and expand the SPR was 5,876 crore, the government is likely to spend only 1,039 crore. Provisioning for the next fiscal has been cut to just 200 crore.

The underspending coincides with a time when India’s crude imports have been affected by the geopolitical tensions owing to the Strait of Hormuz crisis. At present around 40% of India’s crude imports arrive after crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

“Currently, ISPRL (Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited) has around 3.372 million tonne of crude stock available which is around 64% of the total storage capacity,” minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Suresh Gopi has said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

While the country’s three underground reserves at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur can together hold 5.33 million tonne (MT), which translates to about nine-and-a-half days of crude cover at full capacity, the effective buffer is much lower because inventories are currently around two-thirds, reported Financial Express.

“The actual reserve is a dynamic number depending on the stocks and actual consumption, both of which are not static,” reported Gopi.

India Today too reported that an RTI response from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas says India’s strategic reserves can meet about 9.5 days of crude oil requirement in case of import disruptions. But the publication noted that since this estimate assumes full utilisation of storage capacity, the actual buffer is significantly lower.

At present India imports over 88% of its crude requirements.

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