India, July 11 -- State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Friday said its board has given in-principle approval to develop a 1.75 million tonne strategic petroleum reserve at Mangaluru, expanding India's emergency crude oil storage capacity.

The project, along with associated facilities, will be developed as the Phase-I extension of the Mangaluru strategic petroleum reserve, the company said in a stock exchange filing.

Without giving financial details or the timelines of the project, ONGC said its board also authorised the company to engage with the central government on expanding commercial utilisation of the facility, subject to the required regulatory support.

India's strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) programme was lau...