India Considers Fuel Reserve Levy on Cooking Gas Bills

India is considering adding a small charge to cooking and natural gas bills to fund a massive new fuel reserve, which would help cover about two months of crude oil and LNG demand, as well as six weeks of cooking gas supply.

The current strategic reserves of crude oil in India are less than 10 days of demand, which is significantly lower than countries like Japan and South Korea, which maintain buffers lasting over 100 days.

The petroleum ministry is looking at a levy of Rs 1.29 per kg on LPG and Rs 1.43 per standard cubic metre on natural gas, which could raise around $1.5 billion a year.