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As the conflict in West Asia entered the tenth day with no indications of de-escalation, the government is prioritising LPG for cooking with measures such as increasing the minimum waiting period for booking a cylinder to 25 days from 15 and prioritising the commodity for households over commercial use.
Top sources said that the LPG situation is comfortable with “no alarm right now”. However, with no indication of the closure of Strait of Hormuz ending soon, the government, as a precaution, is “prioritising” it for cooking in households.
Last week, refiners were directed to prioritise propane and butane for producing LPG, to be delivered only to Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.
On Monday, the government revised this order. It has now directed all domestic or SEZ oil refining companies including petrochemical complexes operating in India to maximise and ensure that entire production of C3 and C4 streams including propane, Butane, Propylene, butenes, etc being produced, recovered, fractionated or otherwise available with them in their refinery and petrochemical complexes is utilised for production of LPG.
“We have raised the minimum lock-in period for booking a LPG cylinder to 25 days to check hoarding. The earlier lock-in period was 15 days, which was raised to 21 days. An order will also be issued very soon to prioritise consumption for households over commercial use,” said one of the sources.
On the rationale behind the higher lock-in period, an official explained that in a non-PMUY household, one cylinder of 14.2 kg lasts for around 52-55 days. This offers the consumer ample time to plan for re-stocking. Besides, this also checks panic buying and artificial scarcity in the market.
Besides, the world’s second largest LPG importer, which procures up to 90 per cent of its supplies from West Asia, is already trying to purchase cargoes from “wherever possible”, including the US and Canada, said another source.
This is the third such measure by the government, within a week, to prioritise the consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for over 33 crore domestic consumers including over 10.50 crore PM Ujjawala Yojna (PMUY) beneficiaries.
The world’s third largest LPG user consumed more than 33 million tonnes (mt) in FY25, of which over 90 per cent was in households for cooking. It produced 12.79 mt and imported 20.67 mt during the same period.
The government said that it has “comfortable” stocks of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is also out in the market to procure more supplies, including from the US and Canada.
“Here also, the priority will be given to household consumption (city gas distribution). Besides, Oil Ministry has reached an amicable adjustment on gas stocks with the Ministries of Power and Fertilisers,” said a source.
The situation in West Asia is very fluid. Risks are rising. Government is constantly reviewing the war scenario and is taking measures accordingly. As has been the case, the focus is on availability and ensuring energy security, particularly for the common citizens, said a top official.
Published on March 9, 2026
