B'lore: India's First Underground Crude Oil Storage Facility to Come up near Udupi 

Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Aug 22: The union government proposes to store 2.5 million metric tonnes of crude oil for use during emergencies, in an underground facility set to be built at Padoor-Heroor village of Udupi district.

The facility, said to be the first-of-its-kind in the entire country, is being set up for use during crisis situations like war and natural disasters. Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited, a company floated by the central government, will be executing this project. It had asked the state government to acquire 160.755 acres of land in the said village for the purpose. The concern will invest Rs 1,250 crore for the purpose and the crude oil is proposed to be stored in tanks to be built deep under ground, by digging tunnels.  The crude oil to be stored here, is for the use of the entire south India in case of emergencies and expected to last for about a week in such situations, it is gathered.

The land for this project of national importance and interest will comprise of 119 acres of private land and 41 acres of government land. The private land will be acquired through the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board. A school, church and 110 houses located in this region will be rehabilitated. The project requires 3.13 lac litres of water and the water resources department has cleared a proposal of the company to get this water from a river flowing near Mulky.

It is learnt that the company will be spending Rs 771 crore for rigging the tunnel and creating underground facilities and another Rs 479 crore for machineries and other equipments.