India approves plan to expand strategic oil reserves

India’s largest state-run oil and gas producer has approved plans to develop a 1.75 million metric tonne strategic petroleum reserve, as New Delhi seeks to  bolster energy security after being hit hard during the Middle East war.

India, the world’s third-largest importer of oil and the second-largest buyer of liquefied petroleum gas, has faced major disruptions due to restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict between the United States and Iran.

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State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)in a stock exchange filing Thursday said its board of directors had “accorded an in-principle approval for the development of 1.75 MMT capacity strategic petroleum reserves as a project of national importance” in the southern Mangalore region.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told AFP last week that India was aggressively pursuing new avenues of domestic production.

“We are putting fiscal resources into oil and gas exploration in a very big way -- with a $10 billion programme,” he said.

India is a modest producer in global terms.

Domestic crude production in 2025–2026 was 25.98 million metric tonnes, according to the oil ministry.

That meets just 10 percent of India’s crude needs, equivalent to roughly 522,000 barrels per day (bpd) -- a figure well below its production peak of just more than 900,000 bpd in 2011.

India survived the energy crunch by expanding its crude suppliers from 27 to 41 countries, including Iran, Venezuela, greater purchases from Russia and several African nations.

New Delhi has previously been criticised by both the United States and Europe for its purchase of Russian oil, with critics arguing that it bankrolled Moscow’s war against Kyiv.