Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) says the first ship carrying its crude oil destined for India’s strategic oil reserve has arrived in the country.

The ship carrying 2 million barrels was flagged off on 12 May from Abu Dhabi by Adnoc Group CEO Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber and India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and arrived in Mangalore city on the Arabian Sea coast of India after a week-long voyage.

A delegation from Adnoc was present at the ceremony to mark the unloading of crude for Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited’s (ISPRL) facility on the western coast in Karnataka state.

The delivery forms part of an agreement between Adnoc and Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL), an Indian government-owned company, to store 5.86 million barrels of strategic crude oil from Adnoc at the Mangalore storage complex.

The two sides signed an initial agreement to set up the strategic crude storage project in January 2017 and affirmed it with a final agreement in February this year.

As part of that agreement, Abu Dhabi has access to the strategic underground storage facility on the Arabian Sea shore to store additional stockpiles of crude to be shipped to customers in Asia and elsewhere, as and when required. India in return has the right to consume up to two-thirds of the stock for free.