Away from the eyes of the world, India’s ‘Energy Masterplan’! Due to ‘this’ reason, India is calm even in crisis…

• India has gradually strengthened its energy security
• Stock can last for another 25 days
• Many advantages of underground storage

India Energy Storage: The war between Iran and Israel affected global imports and exports. All these situations revealed India’s energy needs and current situation. India imports about 90% of its crude oil, 60% of LPG and 50% of LNG from other countries. A sudden disruption in the supply chain would have a major impact on import-dependent India and could exacerbate India’s woes. A similar situation has initially occurred recently due to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. But in all this it is equally true that India has gained great strength in the energy sector over time.

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Stock can last for another 25 days

Be it underground storage or diversifying oil imports, India is gradually strengthening its energy security. Apart from its strategic oil reserves, petrol and diesel stocks exist to last another 25 days during a crisis. Current cooking gas or LPG in India can last for approximately 25-30 days, while LNG, which is mainly used for industrial purposes, is available to last approximately 10 days further. So, on one hand, due to these situations, countries like Pakistan have created a situation like lockdown, on the other hand, due to this strength in India’s energy sector, India is very confident.

Many advantages of underground storage

There are several underground gas storage facilities in India. The oldest of these caves is in Visakhapatnam, built by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited about 10 years ago. These caves can store a total of 05.33 million metric tons (40 million barrels) of crude oil, which is enough to meet the country’s needs for about 10 days.
Such underground facilities are beneficial as they are protected from external attacks such as drone strikes and natural disasters. Moreover, they are less expensive to operate and since they are underground, these caves are protected from disasters such as fires or oil spills. The government has not yet utilized these reserves. It provides a policy buffer when needed, giving the government time to arrange other imports.

Oldest storage facility in Visakhapatnam

The full name of this underground storage facility is South Asia LPG Company Private Limited. This underground storage facility near Dolphin Hills is a 50:50 joint venture between HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited) and French giant TotalEnergies. It is in use since 2007. It has a gas storage capacity of 60,000 metric tonnes. Major part of LPG of HPCL and TotalEnergies is stored in this cave. Additionally, companies like Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum also use the storage capacity here if needed.

Underground Caves in Mangalore

The storage facility built for HPCL has a capacity of 80,000 MT, which is enough to meet the monthly needs of lakhs of households. It was built by Megha Engineering and is fully operational by September 2025. After importing LPG from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, US, Russia, Iraq, Qatar and Nigeria, HPCL stores it in this cave and then sends it through pipelines to cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mysore.

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This is about LPG storage. There are three major caves in India for storing crude oil. One is in Visakhapatnam, another is in Mangalore and the third is in Padur.