The US and India on Friday signed an initial deal on emergency crude oil reserves that may allow India to store oil in the US strategic petroleum reserve (SPR). India Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said officials would discuss details of the agreement in the coming months.
In March, Congress failed to fund President Donald Trump’s order to fill the SPR to around 714 million barrels. Brouillette added that the deal could imitate the agreement with Australia. Australia in April decided to purchase oil to store in the US SPR as part of its $60-million plan to build an emergency oil stockpile.
Meanwhile, India’s 5.33 million-ton strategic storage has already filled up by May, Pradhan said. The country also parks about 8.5-9 million tons of crude in floating storages mostly in the Gulf. It plans to expand the strategic storage capacity by 6.5 million tons.
