India Diversifies Cooking Gas Supplies Amid Middle East Conflict

The Indian government is working to reduce dependence on imported cooking gas and promote piped natural gas (PNG) adoption. To achieve this, it has instructed oil companies to source at least 15% of India's LPG imports for 2027 through US term contracts, with plans to raise this to 25%. This move aims to create a domestic supply buffer after the West Asia conflict exposed India's vulnerability to disruptions in imported cooking gas supplies.

The government has also fixed maximum LPG production levels for 21 refineries and upstream companies, with a combined potential of 63,810 tonnes a day. This is more than twice the domestic LPG production in the financial year ended March 31, 2026, and accounts for around 70% of daily consumption.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has notified the Natural Gas and Petroleum Products Distribution Orders of 2026 and LPG Control Orders under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. These orders prohibit households from holding simultaneous LPG and PNG connections and allow LPG supply to be discontinued if households do not apply for PNG connections despite notice.

States and Union Territories have been asked to provide district-level administrative support to speed up the transition from LPG to piped gas. The government aims to reduce subsidy expenditure by incentivizing city gas distributors to increase domestic PNG connections, with an incentive scheme approved for September 1, 2026.