According to the estimation made by the Petroleum Ministry, Rs. 25, 145 crore is needed to fill up three underground caverns in the country. Price of crude oil, for calculating the cost of filling the cavern has been assumed at $110 per barrel and exchange rate has been taken at Rs.62/$. Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd. (ISPRL) is constructing underground caverns at Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur. 7 out of the total 8 compartments in all three caverns will have to be filled up and one compartment will be used by HPCL exclusively. These caverns will have the capacity to store 5.33 MMTPA of crude oil.

While Visakhapatnam cavern with a capacity 7.5 million barrels requires Rs. 5,145 crore to fill it up, the cost of filling up 11 million barrels of crude oil in Mangalore cavern is estimated at Rs. 7,500 crore. Padur cavern with highest capacity of 18.4 million barrels needs Rs. 12,500 crore.


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