The Indian government on Thursday urged the state governments to take appropriate action in delivery and monitoring gas situation as Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) remains a ‘matter of concern’.
Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas stated that the state governments can play a significant role in preventing hoarding and black marketing. She also urged states and UTs to give daily briefing on gas situation to prevent misinformation among citizens. The government has urged states to step up vigilance and monitor the overall LPG situation.
“Due to the ongoing war, the situation remains a matter of concern; however, there is no dry-out reported at any distributorship,” she said.
The Central government has advised states and UTs to facilitate new PNG connections to domestic and commercial LPG consumers.
Reiterating the announcements made on Wednesday, Sharma said, “The Government of India has stated that any state governments that support the expansion of the PNG network will be given 10 per cent additional commercial LPG.
India diversifying fuel sources
Amid hindrances in the Strait of Hormuz, India has diversified its oil and gas imports by picking cargoes from sources other than Middle East. The government has diversified for crude, with 70 per cent of oil already coming from sources out of Gulf.India is also importing crude from the United States.
As the US-Israel war with Iran escalates for the 20th day, the countries are now launching attacks on energy infrastructure, resulting in widespread disruption of fuel production and supply.
On the recent attacks on Qatar’s LNG facility, Sharma said that the incident will have an impact on India as well as the country imports 20 per cent of gas from Qatar.
Easing LPG conditions
“There has been a decline in panic booking, and yesterday approximately 57 lakh refill bookings were received. LPG cylinder delivery is proceeding normally,” Sharma said.Over the pas two weeks, approximately around 1.25 lakh new domestic, commercial, and industrial connections have been provided.
With the government taking various steps to ease the LPG shortage, online bookings have now increased to 94 per cent. Alongside this, about 83 per cent of refill deliveries are being carried out through delivery authentication codes.
“There has been a decline in panic booking, and yesterday approximately 57 lakh refill bookings were received. LPG cylinder delivery is proceeding normally,” Sharma said.
The Centre has requested all state governments to take all necessary steps to prevent black marketing and hoarding, and to take action under the law wherever violations are found.
According to the information received from our state governments, the official said that control rooms have been sup in approximately 31 states and union territories. Additionally, district-level monitoring committees have also been established in about 25 states and union territories.
Shortage of Commercial LPG looms
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu told reporters that a slight shortage has been felt in commercial LPG in hotels and restaurants. He added that he will speak to the Petroleum Ministry regarding the same.
In the last three weeks, hotels and restaurants across several states have reported a shortage of LPG cylinders. The government has taken rapid measures to ease the crisis, since the initial ban on commercial LPG supply.
The ministry has urged consumers to use LPG ‘carefully’ and asked consumers to shift to PNG wherever possible.
During a briefing of the Ministry of External Affairs, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal also acknowledged that the energy supply is a ‘matter of concern’, adding that enerfy shipping routes are being impacted amid the US-Israel war with Iran.
“The supply of LPG is a matter of concern. Therefore, we are prioritising domestic consumption; their needs will be taken care of. Then we’ll see how we supply LPG to commercial establishments. But that is a matter of concern because of the shortage of supply,” he said.
India is also trying to diversify energy sources, looking for LPG supply from other parts of the world, he said. “We are at it, we are working, and we’ll do our best to secure our energy security needs…”
