ONGC Board Clears Mangalore Reserve as ADNOC Plans 30-Million-Barrel India Foothold
India's combined strategic buffer is approaching 100 million barrels as Abu Dhabi moves to use the country's storage network as an Asian crude logistics hub.
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp received board clearance on Friday (2026-07-10) to build a new strategic petroleum reserve in Mangalore, Karnataka, with capacity for 1.75 million tons, equivalent to 12.8 million barrels, of crude oil. The company disclosed the decision in a regulatory filing and noted the government had authorised an estimated investment of $1.6 billion for the project the previous month.6,5
The expansion comes alongside a separate commercial commitment from the UAE. During Prime Minister Modi's visit to Abu Dhabi, the UAE's national oil company said it intends to increase the volume of crude it stores in India to 30 million barrels, according to OilPrice.com. That arrangement allows ADNOC to hold barrels in Indian government caverns while retaining rights to sell them in Asian markets, turning India's reserve infrastructure into a regional logistics node as much as an emergency supply buffer.5
India currently holds 5.33 million tons, around 39 million barrels, in underground caverns at three sites on the east and west coasts, Rigzone reported. Two more facilities are already under construction to add 6.5 million tons of space. Once the ONGC site and both government projects are complete, India's combined reserve capacity could approach 100 million barrels.6,5
The urgency driving the build-out traces back directly to the Iran war. ONGC's filing cited the need to strengthen energy resilience following the supply shock, and the scale of that disruption is visible in the production numbers: the UAE, previously running at just over 3 million barrels per day in line with its OPEC+ quota, dropped to between 1.8 and 2.1 million barrels per day during the conflict, according to CNBC. An extended repeat would hit Asian refiners hard. The IEA estimated nearly 20 million barrels per day passed through the Strait of Hormuz in 2025, and the chokepoint has no short-term alternative at that volume.6,21
For ADNOC, the India arrangement is one part of a wider strategy to reduce Hormuz dependency. The company has been accelerating a West-East pipeline designed to bypass the Strait, with construction now roughly 50% complete and a target completion date of 2027, Gulf News reported. Abu Dhabi has also set a long-term production capacity target of 4.9 million barrels per day, well above its OPEC-era constraints. Placing 30 million barrels of commercial inventory in India gives ADNOC direct market access in the world's third-largest oil consumer without routing every cargo through the Strait.3,42
ONGC is separately seeking government permission to allow commercial use of the strategic stockpile, Reuters reported. The request would let state-produced crude stored in the new caverns serve as a price-responsive buffer alongside its security function. New Delhi has not yet approved that structure.5
ICE Brent crude front-month was trading at $75.84 on Friday (2026-07-10), up 0.52% on the session. Saudi Arabia and the UAE together control a majority of global spare capacity above 4 million barrels per day, according to CNBC, which gives Riyadh a natural interest in any model that places Gulf crude inside Indian infrastructure ahead of Asian demand peaks.2
Pace of physical construction remains the binding constraint. Board approvals and capital authorisations in India's public sector have a history of running ahead of project timelines; the Mangalore facility, the two government-funded sites already under construction, and ADNOC's storage target only change India's supply position once the caverns are dug, filled, and accessible.6,5