Store our oil and take 2/3rd for free: UAE’s offer to India

February 11, 2016

New Delhi, Feb 11: In a first of its kind deal, UAE’s national oil company Adnoc has agreed to store crude oil in India’s maiden strategic storage, and give two-third of the oil to it for free.

India, which is 79% dependent on imports to meet its crude oil needs, is building underground storages at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.33 million tonnes of crude oil to guard against global price shocks and supply disruptions.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is keen on taking half of the 1.5 million tonnes Mangalore facility, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.

It will stock 0.75 million tonnes, or 6 million barrels, of oil in one compartment of Mangalore facility. Of this, 0.5 million tonnes will belong to India and it can use it in emergencies. Adnoc will use the facility as a warehouse for trading its oil.

The 1.33 million tonnes Visakhapatnam storage, and 2.5 million tonnes Padur stockpile together with 1.5 million tonnes Mangalore storage will be enough to meet nation’s oil requirement of about 10 days.

After talks with visiting UAE minister for energy Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Pradhan said tax issue remains to be sorted out before Adnoc can begin storing oil at Mangalore.

Congress-ruled Karnataka government has not yet agreed on waiving VAT on the crude oil imported for the strategic storage, which UAE wants to use to stock oil when prices are low and supply to its customers when rates are good.

“This will be beginning of our strategic ties,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to UAE in August last year, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 38 years, laid the foundation of closer cooperation.

The UAE had then committed to invest $75 billion in India, and Pradhan on Wednesday showcased to Mazrouei opportunities for that investment.

“We have offered them refinery projects, petrochemical plans, pipelines and LNG terminals for investment,” he said.

On offer was 26% stake for $700 million in ONGC’s about-to-be-commissioned petrochemical project at Dahej in Gujarat, and 24% equity for $200 million in expansion being planned by BPCL of its subsidiary Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh from 6 million tonnes to 7.5 million tonnes.

Also, an investment of $530-850 million can get the UAE 25-40% stake in HPCL’s planned petrocehmical plant on the Andhra coast, he said, adding that the Gulf national can also invest in the planned 60 million tonnes in Maharashtra and the Jagdishpur-Haldia and Paradip-Surat gas pipelines.

“UEA makes up for 8% of our oil imports. We are trying to import more oil from UAE. In 2016-17, we plan to import 2.5 million tonnes more oil than current year’s purchase of 16.11 million tonnes,” he said.

Besides Adnoc, Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) too has evinced interest in hiring a part of the maiden strategic storage.

Comments

Dear mangaloreans Tear your passport now and say Goodbye to Gulf Countries, Now you have become Oil Rich Mangaloreans Hats off........... smile please.....

Dubai petrol in India, American nuclear in India. What next? Can we get some safe place to live peacefully ???!!!!

The Hindus are Fooled to fight the muslims but the leaders are just hugging the muslims to worldly gain.. What a POLITICS ! the hindus are FOOLED by cheddis and they are hugging each other.
Dear sharan pumpwell.. please U may need arab support later when u will exhaust from communal riots.. People will fed up and may throw u out of the country to arab lands.. So avoid creating COMMUNAL riots.

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Average age of school children picking up drugs, smoking habit in 10 Indian cities around 13 years!

News Network

December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

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