Mangalore 22 May: In an attempt to bring down the sky-reached oil prices in India, the first cargo of the crude oil has reached India from UAE for filling up one of the two Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) caverns built by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd at Mangalore. Earlier, on 12th May Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and H.E. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO jointly initiated the filling of the crude oil carrier vessel 'MT Inspiration' with 2 million barrels of crude oil belonging to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
In February 2018, during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to UAE, ISPRL and ADNOC signed an Agreement under which ADNOC will store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in India’s SPR facility at Mangalore at its own cost. The filling up began with the 2 million barrels reaching Mangalore today. ADNOC will bring additional crude oil and fill up the Mangalore cavern later this year.
In February 2018, during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to UAE, ISPRL and ADNOC signed an Agreement under which ADNOC will store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in India’s SPR facility at Mangalore at its own cost. The filling up began with the 2 million barrels reaching Mangalore today. ADNOC will bring additional crude oil and fill up the Mangalore cavern later this year.
The historic first cargo from UAE for filling up India’s SPR facility demonstrates the commitment of both India and UAE in executing strategically important agreements in a time bound manner, thereby, further strengthening the strategic relationship between the two countries, particulary in the oil and gas sector. It is a culmination of the vision of the leaders, HRH the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and PM Narender Modi to elevate the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and transform the buyer-seller relations to a two-way investment relations.
UAE is the 6th largest crude oil source for India and supplies around 6 % of the petroleum requirement. With the recent acquisition of 10% stake in UAE’s Lower Zakhum offshore producing field by Indian public sector oil and gas companies and the investment by ADNOC in Indian SPR facility, the hydrocarbon sector engagements between India and UAE have transformed from buyer-seller relationship to strategic partners in the energy sector.