- India has signed a deal with UAE as part of its quest for energy security and strategic reserve system.
- UAE is currently 5th biggest supplier of oil to India
- The deal allows UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) to fill half (about 6 million barrels of oil) of an underground crude oil storage facility at Mangaluru, Karnataka.
- India has already filled the other half of the Mangaluru storage in Karnataka state with six million barrels of Iranian oil.
- It also has filled a Vizag storage site in southern Andhra Pradesh with 7.55 million barrels of Iraqi oil and has invited bids from suppliers to fill an 18.3 million-barrel facility at Padur in Karnataka.
Things to ponder:
- Why all strategic reserves being built in South India?
Reasons:
- Coastal Areas; Easy to import and refill;
- Seismically stable
- Far from Pakistan and China