India plans to fill strategic oil storage by third week of next month

India plans to completely fill its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) by the third week of May by moving about 19 million barrels into the sites by then, HPS Ahuja, the managing director of the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves, said on Tuesday.
 

India is moving the oil to the SPR to help the country's refineries reduce their excess crude as the lockdown to contain the Covid-19 outbreak has dented transportation and industrial fuel consumption.
 

India’s fuel demand in March declined by 17.8 per cent, the lowest in over two decades. India will be diverting cargoes for loading in April already bought by refiners Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. The refiners cut their crude processing after local fuel demand collapsed and are unable to store the excess oil themselves.