LPG Shortage in India: PM Modi is holding a meeting on Wednesday with Home Minister Amit Shah on LPG crisis. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri is also present in the crucial meeting.
According to a report by Times Now, the discussions likely include the ongoing middle east criris and India’s energy security.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman on LPG
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the domestic production of LPG is being ramped up to ensure cooking gas supplies to households, as imports have been disrupted following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the ongoing war in West Asia.
India has sufficient availability of fertilisers for the upcoming Kharif season and will soon begin bidding to import crop nutrients for the winter Rabi crop, the minister stated.
Replying to a debate on the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman also informed that the government would be clearing oil bonds worth Rs 1.48 lakh crore issued during the UPA government to oil marketing companies in lieu of cash subsidies on petroleum products. The bonds carried interest rates between 7 and 8.4 per cent.
On LPG shortages, Sitharaman said India imports nearly 65 per cent of its requirements.
“The Middle East crisis has come up with a new challenge…Overwhelmingly, 90 per cent of the 65 per cent LPG imports come from the Strait of Hormuz. As a result, there was speculation about whether we would get it or not.
“There are enough reports on how we are ensuring a steady flow during these turbulent times,” she said.
Sitharaman said the Prime Minister’s stress on self-reliance and increasing production to meet the country’s basic demands has helped India.
She said the country has developed its power sector in a big way, which is supporting the needs in many different ways.
The installed power generation capacity has more than doubled since 2014, and there is no energy shortage now, she added.
“Even in the LPG sector, we have been building up capacities and even at this time, the way we have ramped up domestic capacity in LPG is also coming of help,” Sitharaman added.
On March 8, the government directed oil refineries and petrochemical complexes to maximise LPG production by diverting propane, butane, propylene and butane streams to the LPG pool.
(With agency inputs)
