据油价网新德里报道，印度石油部长达尔门德拉·普拉丹11月9日在新德里表示，世界第3大石油进口国印度将邀请外国能源公司投资其旨在扩大其战略石油储备能力的项目。

据路透社报道，普拉丹是在虚拟ADIPEC工业会议上发表上述讲话的。普拉丹在提及印度正在建设的额外商业和战略石油储备时表示，“我将邀请全球能源公司来投资这个项目。”

今年9月，印度石油和天然气部表示，今年早些时候，印度利用每桶19美元的超低原油价格提高了印度的战略石油储备，在此过程中印度节省了近7亿美元。

普拉丹说，“利用国际市场低原油价格，印度在今年4 - 5月购买了1671万桶原油，从而填补了位于维沙卡帕特南、芒格洛尔和帕杜尔3个战略石油储备基地。”

4月和5月，印度购买原油的平均成本为每桶19美元，而2020年1月的油价为每桶60美元。印度石油部说，由于今年第二季度初出现多年来最便宜的油价，印度在原油进口账单上节省了6.851亿美元。

由于印度正在寻求增强本国的能源安全以及缔造与主要能源公司更加密切的商业关系，预计在未来几十年里将成为世界关键能源增长驱动力和石油需求增长主要来源的印度现正正在寻求扩大其商业和战略石油储备能力。

按照英国石油公司(BP)在其最新的《2020年能源展望》报告中所预测的3种情况，到2050年前，印度的一次性能源消耗将增加一倍以上。

李峻 编译自 油价网

原文如下：

India Invites Foreign Firms To Invest In Its Strategic Petroleum Reserves

India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, is inviting foreign energy companies to invest in its projects to expand its strategic petroleum reserve capabilities, Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

“I invite global energy players to come and invest in this project,” Pradhan said, as carried by Reuters, at the virtual ADIPEC industry conference, referring to India’s ongoing construction of additional commercial and strategic petroleum storage.

Earlier this year, India used the ultra-low crude oil prices to top its strategic petroleum reserves with oil at $19 a barrel, saving nearly US$700 million in the process, India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in September.

“Taking advantage of the low crude oil prices in international market, India purchased 16.71 million barrels (mbbl) of crude in April – May, 2020 and filled all the three Strategic Petroleum Reserves created at Vishakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur,” Pradhan said.

The average cost at which India bought the crude oil in April and May was $19 per barrel, compared to $60 a barrel oil price in January 2020. Thanks to the cheapest oil in years at the start of the second quarter, India saved US$685.11 million on its crude oil import bill, the ministry said.

India, which is expected to be the key energy growth driver in the world and a main source of oil demand growth in the coming decades, is now looking to expand its petroleum reserves capacity as it looks to boost its energy security and forge closer commercial ties with major energy companies.

India’s primary energy consumption is set to more than double by 2050 under all three scenarios BP has projected in its latest Energy Outlook 2020.