India to stockpile oil in US reserves

India is set to begin stockpiling crude oil in American strategic reserves to shield itself from any supply disruptions arising out of geopolitical reasons, and allow the purchase and storage of a large quantity of crude when international oil prices plunge, officials said on Friday.

“We are in an advanced stage of discussions for storing crude oil in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to increase India’s strategic oil stockpile,” petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

This was one of the key outcomes of a virtual meeting between Pradhan and US energy secretary Dan Brouillette as part of the second US-India Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) ministerial on Friday.