India-US sign MoU for cooperation on strategic petroleum reserve -

New Delhi: India and the United States signed an agreement to create fuel stocks that could be used in case of an emergency. Minister level meeting of the India-US Strategic partnership was held on Friday. The deal was inked at this time. This is a crucial deal from the Indian fuel security point of view. As per the agreement, the United States will assist India in creating strategic fuel stocks. India can use US oil storage facilities to store this fuel. Indian Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and US Secretary for Energy, Dan Brouillette, made this announcement.

The second meeting of the India-US Strategic partnership was to be held in the United States. But the meeting was rescheduled due to the Coronavirus crisis. Finally, virtual discussions were held between the two ministers on Friday. Thereafter, the information regarding the deal was revealed. US Secretary for Energy said that India and the United States are starting work on the strategic fuel stocks, which is a vital part of energy security. He also informed that the possibility of India using the US fuel storage facilities to stock this strategic fuel are being examined.

The United States has the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) of 7.14 billion barrels. The United States leads the world in emergency fuel availability. Due to this, the intensity of the effects of the reduction in fuel supply can be easily reduced. This stock becomes available to fulfil the fuel requirements of the country in a war situation.

India has focused on more intensity on creating such strategic fuel stocks over the last five years. Currently, India has a strategic fuel stock of 380 million barrels. This fuel is stored in underground tanks at Podur, Mangalore and Vishakhapatnam. India has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for supplying the oil necessary for these storages. But the Indian government is trying to increase this strategic fuel storage further. Against this background, the agreement signed in this respect with the United States becomes significant.

India imports 80% of the oil consumed in the country. Maximum oil is imported from the Gulf countries. But the instability in the Gulf has increased over the last few years. At the same time, because of the stoppage of oil imports from Iran and Venezuela, due to the US sanctions, the Indian government is exploring other options for oil supply. Three years ago, the United States restarted oil supplies to India. Currently, the United States is the sixth-largest supplier of oil to India and the oil supply from the United States has increased 10-fold since the year 2017. This underlines the increasing fuel cooperation between the two countries.