With hotels across key cities, including Chennai, Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru raising the shortage of LPG cylinders, the government has formed a three-member committee to resolve the issue. According to news agency ANI, the government has directed the oil marketing companies to discuss the issue with the restaurant associations as well.?
As per the report, the oil marketing companies will talk to the various restaurant associations to understand their problems of LPG supply.
“A committee of 3 members comprising Executive Directors of IOC, HPCL and BPCL has been formed by the govt to listen to their grievances. Their genuine requirement for commercial LPG will be met. This committee will also reprioritise the supply as per the requirements,” said the report.
It added that domestic LPG production has increased by 10 per cent in the last few days due to reprioritisation. India is importing LPG and LNG from various sources and new consignments are expected very soon.
“We were in crisis earlier, but today we are not in any crisis of petroleum products. Indian refineries are running in full capacity as they were operating before the Iran-Israel conflict. We are sourcing 70 per cent of our crude oil supply from sources other than the Strait of Hormuz,” reported the ANI, quoting government sources.
The government said that India entered this disruption better prepared and will recover better than other countries once crises is over.
Meanwhile, amid reports of commercial LPG cylinder shortage, Subramanya Holla, President of the Bangalore Hotels Association (BHA), said, “As of today, nothing is closing because we have stocks and we can manage. But in the next due course, in the next 3-4 days, we don’t know what is going to happen. We will definitely serve the customer as long as we have even 1 kg of gas. But beyond that, it becomes difficult. Then whatever we can manage through electrical appliances, we can give. Otherwise, we cannot manage. That is the biggest problem that we are going to face…What we have to see is what measures the Central Govt is going to take in the restoration of supply.”
Oil Marketing Companies have initiated measures to enhance Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production and prioritise its availability for domestic consumers following geopolitical disruptions to global fuel supplies.
Amidst growing pressure on global fuel supplies due to the ongoing West Asia conflict, the Union Government on Tuesday invoked the Essential Commodities Act (EC Act) to safeguard the domestic energy market. According to the Petroleum Ministry, the government has issued a control order directing refineries and petrochemical units to maximise the production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and divert key hydrocarbon streams to the LPG pool to ensure an uninterrupted supply of cooking gas across the country.
The Petroleum Ministry stated that the invocation of the Act has established a clear priority list for natural gas distribution to manage current supply constraints. Under this new mandate, there is a 100% assured supply of domestic piped gas for homes and CNG for vehicles. Other sectors will face calibrated supply caps based on their previous six-month average consumption.
