New Delhi, July 23 -- India plans to develop the second phase of its strategic petroleum reserve programme at an estimated cost of Rs 14,527 crore under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, with government viability gap funding capped at 60 per cent of the total project cost, the government said on Thursday.

The Phase-II expansion, approved in July 2021, will add 6.5 million tonnes of commercial-cum-strategic crude oil storage capacity through two facilities in Odisha (4 million tonnes) and Karnataka (2.5 million tonnes), Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

The government is also continuously assessing new sites for establishing additional strategic pet...