India Boosts Local LPG Output
India has sharply ramped up domestic production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in an effort to offset the deepening cooking‑gas shortage triggered by the war‑related disruption of imports from the Persian Gulf. According to the oil ministry, local refineries have raised LPG output by over a fifth since missile strikes on Iran began in February, lifting production to about 46,000 tons per day, with plans to reach 50,000 tons per day once Nayara Energy’s refinery in Vadinar restarts in May after maintenance.
Despite the step‑up, total output and secured imports still fall well short of the 100,000 tons India was consuming daily before the crisis, underlining how reliant the country remains on seaborne liquefied gas.
Why the Cooking‑Gas Crisis Hit India
The immediate trigger of the crunch was the closure and heavy congestion of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 90% of India’s LPG imports used to pass. Tanker war‑risk premiums soared and many cargoes were effectively stranded in the Persian Gulf, causing weekly inflows to plunge by an estimated 30% virtually overnight.
With India being the world’s second‑largest LPG consumer, the shortfall hit urban households, street‑food vendors, restaurants, laundries, and industries such as glass and ceramics that depend on gas‑fired kilns. In several cities, gas‑booking servers crashed, long queues returned at distributors, and black‑market prices for cylinders spiked, prompting protests and accusations that the government had failed to secure adequate reserves.
Government Measures and Policy Shifts
To stabilise the situation, the government has adopted a three‑pronged approach:
- Maximising refinery output, with refiners told to reroute streams to boost LPG yields by roughly a quarter.
- Diversifying imports, locking in record volumes from the US Gulf Coast and other alternative suppliers, with an additional 650,000 tons expected in May.
- Tightening controls and nudging consumers toward alternatives such as electric stoves and piped natural gas (PNG) and expanding the Delivery Authentication Code (DAC) system to curb fraud and diversion of subsidised cylinders.
At the same time, retail prices for non‑subsidised cylinders in places like Delhi were raised to around ₹913 for a 14.2‑kg cylinder, while Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries still pay about ₹613 after the ₹300 subsidy. Officials insist that priority is being given to the 340 million LPG‑using households, but the crisis exposed India’s thin buffer stocks and fragile import‑dependent energy architecture.
What This Means for Households and the Economy
The cooking‑gas crisis has already forced many low‑income families and street vendors to revert to cheaper but dirtier fuels such as kerosene and traditional chulhas, undoing years of work to promote clean‑cooking access under schemes like Ujjwala. Restaurants and small‑scale manufacturers have faced rising costs and operational delays, while some gas‑powered facilities, including a crematorium in Pune, have had to shut down temporarily.
For the broader economy, the episode is serving as a stress test on India’s energy security. It highlights the need for larger strategic storage, faster pipeline and electric‑cooking rollout, and a more diversified import basket so that a single maritime flashpoint does not endanger the fuel supply of hundreds of millions of homes.
