Are India’s oil reserves becoming empty? Government said sufficient stock but CAG report gives sleepless nights! view statistics

Strategic Petroleum Reserve India: An important information has come to light regarding India’s strategic oil reserves. According to an analysis, the strategic reserves available with the country can meet only about five days of demand as per the current consumption, as a large part of the total capacity is still lying vacant.

The 2025 audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has also revealed that these storage facilities have not been fully utilized for years. Meanwhile, due to fear of fuel shortage, people in many cities increased the purchase of petrol and diesel in panic, although the central government has clearly said that there is sufficient stock in the country.

How much crude oil does India have the capacity to store?

In the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured that India has sufficient reserves of crude oil and the government has also diversified the sources of imports. According to Minister of State for Petroleum Suresh Gopi, at present the crude oil reserves are filled at about 64% of the total capacity.

According to government data, India has a storage capacity of 5.33 million metric tonnes (MMT) of crude oil at three locations located in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, of which only about 3.37 MMT is loaded. These reserves are operated by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL).

Strategic reserves of only five days

India consumes about 20 MMT of petroleum products every month, i.e. about 0.67 MMT daily. Accordingly, the existing strategic reserves are sufficient for only five days. However, if the stocks held by oil marketing companies are also included, the country has total reserves equal to about 74 days of demand. In this, the capacity of ISPRL is considered to be about 9.5 days.

existing strategic reserves

India is the world’s third largest crude oil consumer and imports more than 88% of its needs. In 2025, more than half of the country’s imports will come from the Middle East countries Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In such a situation, any kind of crisis in this region can have a direct impact on India’s supply.

What are experts saying?

Experts believe that strategic reserves act as a safety net in times of emergencies or sudden surges in prices. According to senior ICRA official Prashant Vashishtha, India’s reserves are still low and high dependence on imports makes it a weakness.

At the same time, energy expert Kirit Parikh believes that increasing the reserves alone is not the solution, but there is also a need to work rapidly on reducing the demand for oil and promoting renewable energy sources.

Slow pace of increasing storage capacity

The CAG report also states that the pace of increasing storage capacity has been slow. The target was to cover 19 days of imports by March 2024, but so far only 7.88 days of capacity has been developed.

Globally, the International Energy Agency (IEA) recommends reserves equal to 90 days of imports. In comparison, countries like Japan and South Korea have around 200 days of stock, while China is believed to have around 120 days of stock. In comparison, India’s total capacity is only 74 days.

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However, experts also agree that storing oil on a large scale is an expensive deal, especially when crude oil prices are high. Therefore, it is equally important to increase the reserves at the right time.