India said on Wednesday it would be interested in a deal for Saudi Arabia to store oil on its territory, after Japan recently revealed it would enter talks on storing Saudi crude. "Why not?" Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora told reporters at a meeting in Riyadh of Asian and Gulf oil ministers. "We have heard about that, but have not had such offers yet," Deora said.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Chairman Sarthak Behuria said the country did not currently have any strategic storage available. "There has been discussion ... whether we could create a storage facility in crude oil," Behuria said. "As far as storage is concerned we don't have any strategic storage. First we have to build strategic storage for our own requirement."
Japan and Saudi Arabia agreed on Saturday to start negotiations to allow Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, to use existing reserve facilities in Japan.