New Delhi: India will develop underground natural gas storage facilities as security against disruption and supply shortfall.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp and GAIL (India) Ltd will set up the underground natural gas storage through a special purpose vehicle and the gas will act as a strategic storage and fallback support to provide supply security, a top government official said in New Delhi.

French consultants Gaz de France (GDF) will assist in the project.

GDF has vast experience in the field of developing and operating underground gas storage in different types of rock formations as well as depleted gas fields. It owns and operates a large number of such storage facilities in France and other countries.

State-run gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd floated a tender for a consultant to advise on the development of an underground natural gas storage facility either in porous media such as depleted oil or gas fields or in salt-leached caverns.

The former involves study of reservoir characteristics, geometry and native fluid features.

TheOil Industry Development Board (OIDB) has pledged an initial Rs500,000 for the project study..