India is set to receive two shipments of more than 62,000 tons of LPG this week as oil companies continue to meet fuel demand for more than 332 million households despite an LPG supply crunch due to the ongoing conflict in West Asia, government officials said on Monday.
Meanwhile, the government has also raised gas allocation to the fertilizer sector from about 70% to 90% from Monday, which will be supplied to them from locally produced natural gas, officials said. Natural gas is the fuel and raw material for fertilizer plants.
State-run oil marketing companies are procuring energy, including crude oil, LPG and LNG from all available sources, officials said. They said at the Joint Ministerial Conference on Recent Developments in West Asia that two LPG-laden ships – Green Sanvi, carrying 46,500 tons of cargo and Green Asha, carrying 15,500 tons – successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
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Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum, said LPG supplies remain a concern, but supplies to domestic consumers (home kitchens) are adequate. “That is why we have restricted additional shipments as well,” she said. After the outbreak of war in West Asia on February 28, the government also directed Indian refiners and petrochemical plants to maximize LPG production, increasing domestic LPG production by 40%.
India imports 60% of its LPG needs and 90% of it comes from war-torn West Asia, especially Qatar. The Iranian attack on the Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar in mid-March – combined with ongoing challenges to ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz – disrupted those supplies. “No drought has been reported in any of our LPG distributors and we are distributing nearly 50 lakh [5 million] Cylinders daily. Nearly 18 crore worth of LPG cylinders were sent [180 million] “Households in the last five weeks,” Sharma said. Meanwhile, public sector oil and gas companies and state governments are regularly monitoring the LPG supply situation on the ground and taking action against black marketing and hoarding.
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It stated that 97% of refill bookings are now online and 90% of deliveries are made based on a Delivery Activation Code (DAC) to verify the transfer. She added that gas supplies to commercial customers are still restricted (up to 70% of their needs) as the priority is for the local consumer. Commercial gas consumers include hotels, restaurants and motels. “But in the last three weeks, nearly 79,900 tons of commercial LPG have been sold,” she added. She added that if this quantity was converted into 19 kg LPG canisters, this would reach 42,000 (4.2 million) cylinders.
Talking about the availability of 5 kg Free Trade Liquefied Petroleum Gas (FTL) cylinders, which are mainly used by students and migrant workers, Sharma said: “Sufficient stock is available. The consumer can get it from the nearest distributor by showing a valid identity proof. No address proof is required.” To create awareness among consumers, more than 5,500 awareness camps were organized in various states and around 6,700 FTL cylinders were sold there, she said. In the last 14 days, more than 675,000 FTL packages have been sold across the country, she added.
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She added that the average daily sale of 5 kg cylinders in February amounted to about 77 thousand, and rose to more than 90 thousand on April 4, adding that sufficient numbers of these cylinders are available in the market. FTLs are also classified as commercial LPG and are sold at a price $549 per pack in Delhi.
She said that with regard to natural gas supplies, priority is given to domestic consumers through the transportation of natural gas via pipelines and vehicles as compressed natural gas. After meeting their requirements 100%, the locally produced natural gas and LNG are allocated to commercial and industrial customers. Sharma added that fertilizer plants get natural gas for about 70-75% of their needs, which has been raised to 90% as of Monday.
