LPG crunch continues, supplies rationalised for commercial users

LPG supply crunch continued for the third straight week on Friday, but there was some easing in bookings for refills, in signs of things slowly crawling towards normalcy.

However, concerns persist as supply restrictions on commercial consumers, including hotels, remain in place due to ongoing disruptions in input supplies caused by the West Asia conflict.

The war in the Middle East, triggered by the US and Israel attacks on Iran, has led to the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz -- the critical shipping lane through which India gets 60 per cent of its imports.

The overnight wiping away of such large volumes led to the government prioritising supplies to domestic household kitchens.

Supplies to commercial establishments were initially stopped, but later restored to a fifth of their requirement.

This triggered panic buying by domestic users, fearing that the availability of their gas cylinders too may be rationalised.

Panic booking peaked at 87.7 lakh on March 13 but fell thereafter.

At a media briefing, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said on March 19, around 55 lakh bookings were made, down from 57 lakh on the previous day.

Pre-war average booking per day was 50-55 lakh.

"Panic booking is coming down," she said, adding that the government continues to prioritise the supply of available LPG to domestic households.

However, "LPG (supply) situation remains worrisome, but there is no dry out at any LPG distributor," she said.

She said in the last week, 11,300 tonnes of commercial LPG were given to commercial establishments.

Sharma said domestic LPG production has increased by over 40 per cent in the last two weeks, and the three public sector oil marketing companies have been making normal, pre-war levels of daily deliveries of LPG refills.

"LPG cylinder delivery continues to be normal," she said.

To curb black marketing and hoarding, raids and surprise inspections continue.

As many as 4,500 raids were conducted on Friday, while oil companies conducted 1,800 surprise inspections of petrol pumps and LPG distributorships.

State governments have been asked to set up monitoring and enforcement, she said.

"Situation is still worrisome, but we are maintaining supplies at a normal level for domestic users," she said.

Asking consumers to wait for home delivery of their refill after booking, she said they should also explore alternate fuels to ease pressure on cooking gas LPG.

In addition, customers near a city gas network are being encouraged to shift to piped natural gas - a convenient alternative to LPG as the fuel continuously travels through pipes to household kitchens without the botheration of refill bookings.

In 15 geographical areas (GAs), 13,700 connections have been given, and 7,000 consumers have shifted from LPG to piped natural gas (PNG).

Besides, alternate fuels such as kerosene are being promoted, she said, adding commercial LPG stocks have been placed with states for using them as per their priority list.