In an effort to be self sufficient, India will complete the construction of its first strategic crude oil storage by October 2011.
India is 75 per cent import dependent for meeting its crude oil needs, for this, they are developing under-ground storages at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.33 million tonne of crude oil. This will meet nation's oil requirement of 13 to14 days.
The storage facility which is being developed at Visakhapatnam will be mechanically completed by October 2011. Visakhapatnam will have capacity to store 1.33 million tonne of crude oil in underground rock caverns.
The Mangalore facility will have a capacity of 1.55 million tonne and would be mechanically completed by November 2012. The 2.5 million tonne storage at Padur, near Mangalore, is expected to be completed by December 2012.