The Hindu Business Line : 2 new crude storage facilities proposed

INDIA'S import dependence to meet crude oil requirement will rise from the current 70-per cent level to over 94 per cent by 2030 if fuel efficiency and alternative sources of energy are not encouraged, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a think-tank of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

"India's demand for crude oil will more than double to 6 million barrels per day in 2030, 94 per cent of which will have to be imported if major oil fields are not discovered and energy policy remains the same," the IEA Deputy Executive Director, Ambassador William Ramsay, said on Wednesday at the India-IEA joint workshop on emergency oil stock issue.

The IEA has estimated that world oil demand will increase from 75 million barrels a day to 120 million barrels a day in 2030. "The IEA member countries hold 90 days of import needs as strategic oil reserve. I suspect India will need more than 5 million tonnes (equivalent to 15 days requirement) in stockpile," Mr Ramsay said.

Speaking on the occasion, the Petroleum Minister, Mr Ram Naik, said that India would invest Rs 1,650 crore in building strategic oil storage facilities at rock caverns in two places in Mangalore and one place at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

According to the Minister, the ultimate plan is to make a 45-day stockpile by 2008.

"We import 67 per cent of our crude oil requirement from the West Asia. The general political instability in the region is a cause of anxiety from the oil supply security perspective. The world has already witnessed about 20 oil disruptions, in the past 52 years, of various sizes and durations affecting the oil importing economies," he said.