Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which has started storing crude oil in the Mangaluru oil storage cavern of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL), is also keen on storing crude in Padur facility of ISPRL.

ISPRL received the first crude consignment from ADNOC at its Mangaluru cavern on Monday. ADNOC had signed an agreement with ISPRL for storing 5.86 million barrels of crude at ISPRL’s strategic storage facility in Mangaluru during the visit of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE in February.

Speaking to presspersons after receiving the crude at the Mangaluru storage facility of ISPRL on Monday, Abdulla Salem Al Dhaheri, Director (Marketing, Sales and Trading) of ADNOC, said he visited the Padur storage facility of ISPRL in Udupi district on Monday.

ISPRL has underground crude oil caverns to store 5.33 million tonnes of crude oil in three locations — Visakhapatnam (1.33 mt), Mangaluru (1.5 mt) and Padur (2.5 mt).

Asked if ADNOC plans to store its crude in Padur facility, Dhaheri said he was impressed with ISPRL’s facility at Padur. “We will have to discuss with our colleagues. We have intention to expand our collaboration with the Indian government,” he said.

Another round of engagement with India is in the offing to reinforce strong and strategic relations between the two nations, he said.

ADNOC is now concentrating on Mangaluru cavern. Second and third shipments for the Mangaluru cavern will take place post-monsoon, mostly by September, he said.

Sanjay Sudhir, Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said the Government is also considering creating two more strategic storages under Phase II at Chandikhol in Odisha and Padur (in addition to the existing one) in Karnataka.

HPS Ahuja, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ISPRL, was present on the occasion.

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