The government on Tuesday reaffirmed that adequate stocks of petrol and diesel are available in all 100,000 petrol pumps across the country and the 1.1 million migrant workers having gas connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana are getting fuel on priority with other 105.6 million Ujjwala beneficiaries.
Giving update on fuel supply situation, Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the petroleum ministry said while all petrol pumps in the country are sufficiently stocked with auto fuels, availabilities of LPG for priority consumers are ensured by ramping up its production in refineries at the cost of petrochemicals output so that priority customers do not suffer.
India is the fourth largest refining hub of the world with over 258 million tonnes per annum refining capacity. By changing refining configuration, refiners can ramp-up output of any particular product to some extent. Apart from domestic LPG, India also imports LPG from various sources to meet domestic demands. India imports 60% of its LPG requirements.
Briefing about the movements of LPG cargos from West Asia, special secretary (shipping) Rajesh Kumar Sinha said two carriers Pine Gas (carrying 45,000 metric tonne of LPG) and Jag Vasant (about 47,600 MT) crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday late evening. While the former is arriving at the New Mangalore port on March 27, the latter is expected at the Kandla port on March 26. To be sure, five more loaded carriers (with 2.3 lakh MT of LPG), and one in the process of loading, are expected to start from the west of the strait to India soon.
In order to reduce load on LPG supply, the government is promoting use of piped natural gas (PNG). Petroleum sector regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) on Monday issued an order, directing all city gas distribution (CGD) companies to provide PNG connections in residential schools, collages, hostels, community kitchens and Anganwadi kitchens located in the vicinity of pipeline infrastructure, Sharma said. There are over 330 million domestic LPG connections in the country.
She said there are 6 million households where PNG connections could be provided immediately, and they have been requested to avail the facility. “Yesterday, just in a day, about 7,500 domestic and commercial connections have been provided to such people in the top 110 geographical areas,” she added.
“The supply of LPG is affected due to prevailing geopolitical situations, but lot of cargos have been lined up, and no dry out has been reported at the LPG distributorships. Although yesterday also, we saw some panic bookings, but deliveries are normal,” she said.
Giving details of the commercial LPG supply, she said the government on March 21 raised supply of LPG to commercial consumers to about 50% of their total requirements. According to her, preference supply is allocated to restaurants, dhabas, hotels, industrial canteens, food processing industries, dairy, subsidized canteens and kitchens run by state governments, local bodies, communities for the poor and migrants.
Under Ujjwala, about 1.1 million migrant workers have already taken LPG connections and in last few months, about 73,000 connections have been given to them. Yesterday also, more than 25,000 connections of 5kg LPG have been given to them, she said, adding that these supplies are ensured by state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) in coordination with state governments. Orders have been issued by 24 states and union territories (UTs) for the distribution of commercial LPG. In other places, state-run OMCs themselves are distributing LPG. About 18,700 tonnes commercial LPG have been lifted so far.
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