Indian refiners are taking advantage of cheap oil to bulk up its supplies even as every corner of the nation’s onshore storage tanks fills to the brim, according to Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
State-run and private processors are now holding seven million tons — equivalent of more than 50 million barrels — on-board tankers out at sea, the minister said in a Facebook post. The refiners are doing so amid a collapse in crude prices that saw the world’s top benchmark lose more than 60% of its value this year and U.S. West Texas Intermediate plunge into negative territory.
India’s use of what’s known as floating storage comes as all its onshore storage options run out. The country’s 25 million tons of crude and fuel storage capacity at refineries, pipelines and inland depots are all full, partly due to lower demand, said Pradhan. Even the nation’s strategic reserve tanks are also filled, he added.
