The West Asia conflict has sharply stressed India’s use of natural gas and cooking gas for a variety of applications. The government has today issued directives to prioritise cooking gas supplies.
Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) is largely used for cooking gas across India. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme has ramped up the use of LPG for cooking by ramping up LPG production, bottling capacity and number of LPG distributors. The government has claimed that LPG coverage has increased to nearly 100% of households, up from 62% in 2016 when the scheme was launched. Other methods of cooking has virtually disappeared from Indian households. Total LPG consumption in India has, as a result, nearly doubled in 10 years by 2022-23.
Centre directs refiners to maximise LPG production
Some 60% of India’s LPG is imported. And much of the imports comes from Persian Gulf countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar. With the Strait of Hormuz closed since March 1, LPG imports have been badly hit.
LPG consists mostly of propane and butane gases along with small quantities of higher hydrocarbons. While propane and butane occur along with natural gas, which is methane, they are also among a range of products produced from crude oil refining and petrochemical production. The government has directed refineries in India to increase propane-butane output of crude oil processing.
