Reuters reported last month that India had changed its policy to allow the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL), which manages the federal oil inventories, to lease 30% of its overall 37 million barrels capacity to Indian and foreign companies. So far Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has leased one of the two equal size chambers at the 11-million-barrel Mangalore SPR. The two state-refiners, however, will buy oil from the ISPRL at a discount to the official selling price set by the producer countries. Although the scale of India's oil release from the SPR is relatively small, it may reduce imports of UAE oil, one of the sources said. Under the policy shift, the federal government will also allow the ISPRL to trade oil equivalent to 20% of the overall SPR capacity in the India markets.

Source: Mint August 17, 2021 17:15 UTC