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The Indian Eye
OPINION AUGUST 21, 2026 10

Fujairah and the Indian

Strategic Petroleum Reserve

These SPR facilities are designed to act as emergency reserves to offset energy supply chain

disruptions caused by unexpected crises, such as the ongoing conflict in West Asia, as well as

stabilize oil prices that tend to fluctuate amid any turmoil

Graphic courtesy: IDSA

bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Presi- serves (SPR) architecture, and there- laid the foundation for Fujairah, a
dent of the UAE, was the MoU on fore move away from its traditional critical energy hub, to emerge as the
Strategic Collaboration between In- reliance on domestic facilities and preferred location to position over-
dian Strategic Petroleum Reserves towards overseas SPR, is that the seas Indian SPR.
Limited (ISPRL) and Abu Dhabi existing infrastructure might prove For the UAE, the development
National Oil Company (ADNOC). insufficient to keep up with India’s of Fujairah as a hub for overseas In-
This particular MoU encompasses growing energy needs during periods dian SPR would not only reinforce
three primary objectives, including of protracted hostilities and long- its growing strategic relevance in the
the ‘potential storage of crude oil in term disruptions to energy supply. energy sector but also generate rev-
Fujairah, UAE, to form part of the Overseas Indian SPR that would po- enue by hosting foreign SPR on its
Indian strategic petroleum reserve’. tentially be established in Fujairah, soil through the diversification of its
SAMAN AYESHA KIDWAI While on the surface, it might therefore, would be able to comple- revenue generation avenues beyond
appear that this objective adds an- ment India’s existing infrastructure energy exports, as well as establish a
he robust energy security part- other dimension to a crucial strategic over the long term. It will also allow viable commercial and strategic rela-
nership between India and the partnership between the two coun- India to leverage the existing infra- tionship with one of the world’s fast-
TUnited Arab Emirates (UAE) tries, it is, in actuality, an integral pil- structure at Fujairah instead of in- est-emerging economies.
was strengthened following Prime lar of New Delhi’s drive to create a vesting in the development of new fa- India and the UAE have been
Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to more resilient energy framework, to cilities at home or elsewhere abroad. engaged in an SPR arrangement
Abu Dhabi in May 2026. Among the much better prepare to mitigate the At the same time, it can be ar- since 2018, under which oil has been
multiple sectors that were highlight- fallout of a global energy shock, per- gued that the longstanding diplomat- stored at Mangaluru for India’s stra-
ed as areas of deepening bilateral co- haps much more consequential than ic and strategic cooperation between tegic use and for the UAE to re-ex-
operation, energy security, especially the disruptions caused due to the the two countries on the one hand, port. While the maximum storage
given the recent events in West Asia, Strait of Hormuz crisis. and the robust eight-year partner- capacity is around 11 million barrels,
is arguably of foremost importance. One of the fundamental rea- ship, beginning in 2018, between ADNOC and ISPRL each exercise
Among the key outcomes of his sons that India might be looking to ISPRL and ADNOC in the domain 50 per cent control over this facili-
joint meeting with Sheikh Mohamed diversify its Strategic Petroleum Re- of energy security on the other hand, Continued on next page... >>

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