The government on Friday urged citizens not to indulge in panic buying of LPG cylinders after bookings rose sharply amid concerns raised by the ongoing US-Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Officials from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said LPG reservations rose significantly in recent days, reaching 75.7 thousand reservations, compared to the pre-war daily average of 55.7 thousand, indicating panic-induced demand.
A senior official at the Ministry of Oil said that the rise reflects precautionary reservations by families and not any real shortage of cooking gas.
“There is no need for panic booking; no drought has been reported at any LPG trader,” said Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary (Marketing and Refining), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Despite the spike in bookings, all 25,000 LPG distributors across the country continue to maintain supplies and no dealer has reported running out of cylinders, she said.
But as a precautionary measure, it also urged Indians to acquire PNG connections to reduce the burden on the LPG supply chain.
“Don’t panic, we have 1.5 crore PNG users, ensuring supply to all. Apart from 1.5 lakh crore, 60,000 households have PNG connection near Hai… I urge users to use PNG connection to reduce pressure on LPG,” Sharma said.
Sharma added that India’s oil sector remains stable, with sufficient fuel available across the country.
Talking about fuel supply, she said that India has a refining capacity of 258 million metric tons and is self-sufficient in producing petrol and diesel, which means there is no need to import this fuel.
She said: “All of our refineries are operating at 100% capacity or higher. They have sufficient reserves of crude oil and supplies are constantly maintained.”
