Strategic Oil Storage Full At Visakhapatnam Facility
- Strategic reserves built to face wars, crises and disasters
- Visakhapatnam strategic oil storage center and national reserves
Hyderabad: The strategic oil storage facility at Visakhapatnam is now fully filled with crude oil, according to information related to India’s strategic petroleum reserves system. The storage was created to help the country face difficult situations such as wars, crises, and natural disasters.
The International Energy Agency had suggested years ago that every country should maintain strategic oil reserves to deal with catastrophic situations. According to the International Energy Program, countries should store enough oil for 90 days to ensure supply during emergencies.
India therefore set up a special purpose vehicle called Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited in 2004. The organisation works under the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It built three strategic oil storage centres across the country. The first is located in Visakhapatnam, while the other two are in Mangalore and Paduru in Karnataka.
HPCL, BPCL, and IOCL import crude oil from abroad through ships to Visakhapatnam. The crude oil is refined at refineries and then supplied as petrol, diesel, and gas to several states. Since Visakhapatnam is a major centre on the east coast, authorities established a strategic oil storage facility there.
The storage facility is located under a hill near the sea in the Lowa Gardens area near Scindia in Visakhapatnam. It lies about 300 feet deep towards the sea. The structure has a height of 30 meters, a width of 20 meters, and a total length of five kilometres. The facility can store 1.38 million metric tons of crude oil.
Construction of the storage centre began in 2008 and was completed in 2015. In July that year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the facility to the nation. Later, large oil storage facilities were also built in Mangalore with a capacity of 1.5 million metric tons and in Padur with a capacity of 2.5 million metric tons.
Another hill about 100 feet high stands above the Visakhapatnam storage centre. Engineers designed the facility to remain safe even if heavy bombs are dropped. It is also built to withstand earthquakes.
Ships carrying crude oil unload at a specially built oil jetty located three kilometres from the coast. This jetty uses a single point mooring system. From there, pipelines carry the crude oil directly to the respective companies and the storage facility.
Officials say the crude oil stored in this centre can remain preserved for up to 60 years. It can also be used whenever necessary. If the current war in West Asia intensifies and oil tanker ships stop somewhere, the stored crude oil from these centres may be used to maintain supply.
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