Two New Sites Weighed to Expand India's Strategic Petroleum Reserves

According to Oilprice.com, in a report published Thursday, 22 Mordad 1405 (August 13, 2026), India's state-owned Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) is finalizing feasibility studies for two new strategic reserve sites, one at Bikaner in Rajasthan and another at Bina in Madhya Pradesh. Indian media said the plans would add to a separate project by state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to build a roughly 13 million barrel storage site at Mangaluru.

Following the disruption of crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz, India, whose current reserve capacity covers only about eight days of national demand, is seeking to bolster its energy security. India's Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Suresh Gopi, earlier told parliament that half of the new Mangaluru capacity would be reserved for strategic storage and half for ONGC's commercial operations, a project the Economic Times had previously reported carries an estimated investment of $1.6 billion.