The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the enhancement of cavern capacity, manner of utilization and revised cost estimates of Strategic Crude Oil Storage cavern at Visakhapatnam.

The CCEA also approved enhancement of the cavern capacity at Visakhapatnam from 1.0 million tonne to 1.33 million tonne sharing of 0.30 million tonne additional capacity by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited on proportional cost sharing basis and the revision of cost estimates from INR 671.83 crore for 1.0 million tonne to INR 1038 crore for 1.33 million tonne.

The enhanced storage capacity at Visakhapatnam will enable larger strategic storage of crude oil at a lower cost due to cost sharing while providing operating flexibility and cost savings to HPCL.