The Centre has offered states up to 10% additional commercial LPG allocation if they accelerate the shift to piped natural gas (PNG), as supply pressures persist amid disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and the ongoing West Asia conflict. The move comes with the government flagging LPG availability as “a cause of concern”, with long queues reported at distributor points even as household supplies remain uninterrupted.
“All states and Union territories have been offered allocation of 10% additional commercial LPG provided they help in expediting the expansion of CGD network,” said Sujata Sharma, joint secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas.
India has restricted commercial LPG supply to 20% of average consumption over the past six months, prioritising domestic users. The Centre has now proposed increasing this to 30% for states that undertake reforms to enable long-term transition from LPG to PNG.
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Reform-Linked Incentives
“In the last 2 weeks, around 120,000 new PNG connections have been given and these include domestic, commercial, industrial and CNG stations,” Sharma added.
“In the current LPG shortage scenario due to West Asia crisis, OMCs are providing 20% commercial LPG for states. It would be a smart move at this stage for states to enable transition of LPG consumers to PNG. Therefore, it is proposed that even while LPG for commercial is in short supply, its allocation to be increased to 30% provided states can help in long-term transition to PNG,” Neeraj Mittal, secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas, said in a letter to states.
The additional allocation is tied to a reform framework to ease city gas distribution (CGD) roll-out. States can secure 1% additional LPG by forming empowered district-level committees, 2% by granting deemed or time-bound approvals, 3% by introducing a “dig and restore” mechanism with bank guarantees of up to `10 lakh per km, and 4% by reducing lease or rental charges on CGD networks to zero.
Officials said these measures aim to address bottlenecks such as high road-cutting charges and local levies that have slowed CGD expansion.
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Securing the Domestic Kitchen
Even as supply remains tight, domestic production has been ramped up. “Production of cooking gas by Indian refiners has increased by 40% over the past two weeks,” Sharma said.
She added that 15 states have started disbursing commercial LPG cylinders under the 20% allocated quota and 7,200 tonne have been supplied so far, reflecting early implementation of the restricted allocation framework.
TOPICSLPGPNG priceThis article was first uploaded on March nineteen, twenty twenty-six, at thirty-seven minutes past one in the night.