India orders oil, gas entities to share data amid crisis, invokes Essential Commodities Act

NEw new delhi: Amid an on-going world(a) vitality crisis due to the state of war in West Asia, the government has evoked the Essential Commodities Act making it mandatory for all entities “engaged in production, processing, refining, storage, transportation, import, export, marketing, distribution and consumption of petroleum products and natural gas” to furnish their latest data to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), an official said.“Yesterday, under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, government has issued a Gazette Notification, whereby PPAC has been designated as a nodal agency for collection, compilation, maintenance, and analysis of information,” said Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the ministry of petroleum. PPAC is the data-keeper of the oil ministry.To be sure, PPAC anyway compiles data related to oil and gas sector. But the recent notification arms it to seek granular data -- almost in real time. This will help the ministry plan for exigencies.Also Read | Why Centre has invoked Essential Commodities Act amid Hormuz Strait disruptionsAny violation of an order issued under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act is considered criminal offence, and may even lead to imprisonment.In her daily update on India’s energy situation, Sharma on Thursday said crude supply in the country is adequate and refineries are operating at full capacity. Petrol pumps are functioning normally with no dry outs reported, she said.Giving details of the natural gas availability, she said petroleum natural gas (PNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) supplies continue at 100%. “Commercial LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] users are being encouraged to shift to PNG through CGD [City Gas Distribution] companies with incentives and quick connections where networks exist,” she said.As a result of government’s efforts, about 125,000 new domestic and commercial piped natural gas connections (PNG) have been given in the last two weeks, she said. “In the last three days, over 5,600 LPG consumers have shifted to PNG,” she added.Also Read | Trump dials down after Iran hits world's largest LNG plant in Qatar: 'Israel won't attack...'Iran’s attack on Qatar’s energy infrastructure at Ras Laffan industrial city in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Iranian South Pars gas facility is a major blow to India because it has large, long-term LNG and LPG supply contracts with Qatar. India sources about 47% of total its total natural gas imports from the country.India is largely meeting its energy supply shortfall from the West Asia through its diversified sourcing. It imports crude from about 40 countries, including Venezuela, Russia and America. It imports natural gas also from the US, Australia, Norway, and Russia.Commenting on demand side management, Sharma said states and local administrations have been roped in to curb hoarding and black marketing. States have activated control rooms and intensified raids, while oil marketing companies are conducting inspections.She said customers are increasingly adopting online booking. They are also avoiding panic booking as gas cylinders are being delivered at their doorsteps, she said. “Online bookings have further increased to 94%.” According to her, about 83% LPG refills have been delivered through OTP-based delivery authentication code (DAC) to ensure supplies to right consumers.“Panic bookings have gone down,” she said. There were about 57 lakh (5.7 million) bookings on Wednesday as compared to about 89 lakh (8.9 million) on March 13, when panic bookings peaked.