Amid the looming fuel crisis due to the ongoing war in West Asia, India has ramped up its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production in a short period of time. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said on Friday (10th April) that India’s domestic LPG production is now catering to 60% of its LPG requirements. This is a significant rise from 40% as of 18th March.
Giving details on the fuel supply situation in the country, the Joint Secretary of the Petroleum Ministry, Sujata Sharma, said that the country has sufficient crude stock. “We have sufficient inventory of crude; our refineries are operating at optimum capacity. Domestic LPG production has increased, and it is close to 60% of our needs right now,” Sharma said.
“In the last five weeks alone, around 4.05 lakh new LPG connections have been gasified, and over 4.41 lakh new consumers have been registered. Continuous support is also being received from state governments and Union Territory administrations, and it is expected that the expansion of the PNG network will accelerate further,” Sharma added.
One of the measures adopted by the government to address the LPG shortage in the country was to switch from LPG to PNG. Notably, in the past four weeks, about 4 lakh consumers switched from LPG to PNG. The step helped in ensuring an uninterrupted supply of fuel to households and reducing the reliance on LPG.
To further ease access to LPG cylinders, the government had relaxed the documentation norms. “We have simplified access to 5 kg cylinders by easing documentation requirements and significantly increasing supply. As a result, nearly one lakh cylinders are being sold,” Sharma added.
According to government officials, the LPG demand in the country is being adequately met despite the situation in the Middle East, with distributors holding sufficient stock and no shortage being reported across the country. While the domestic LPG supply remained largely unaffected, the commercial supply of the cooking gas took a temporary hit due to the war situation. However, the commercial LPG supplies have also recovered nearly 70%. The cooking gas is being distributed on priority to essential services and industries, including hospitals, educational institutions, hotels, dhabas, pharmaceuticals, packaging units and labour-intensive sectors.
As per the government data, India’s annual LPG consumption in 2025-26 was 33.21 million tonnes (MT). Monthly data revealed that the LPG consumption witnessed a sharp decline in March due to supply disruptions caused by the war in West Asia, which started on 28th February. LPG consumption fell from 3.012 MT in January and 2.822 MT in February to 2.379 MT in March, marking a 26.6% dip from January. Before the war broke out, India used to meet 60% of its LPG requirements through imports, mostly from West Asia, particularly Qatar. It also imports LPG from Australia and the US.
Apart from adopting measures to maintain a steady fuel supply, the government has also been conducting awareness campaigns for consumers to curb misinformation. Government officials intensified outreach by conducting over 2,400 awareness campaigns in the past week to inform consumers about available fuel options and improve access.
Additionally, the government has also prioritised domestic consumption of natural gas. While industries connected to the grid are currently receiving about 80 per cent of their requirements, supplies to the fertiliser sector have been restored to 95 per cent. The gas distribution companies have been asked to maintain an uninterrupted supply to critical areas such as food processing, cold storage and healthcare.
