Centre assures ‘adequate energy stocks’ amid supply concerns over Iran-US war

PEtrol and rudolf christian karl diesel stocks continued to be enough at retail pumps crossways the rural area, the fossil oil ministry said on Saturday, even as a panel of Union ministers overseeing supplies — gas to fertilisers — assessed measures to boost availability amid the West Asian war, defence minister Rajnath Singh said in a tweet.Distribution of LPG cylinders, used by 333 million households for daily cooking, has remained “normal” with outlets delivering about 5.4 million refills on Friday, the petroleum ministry said in a statement.ALSO READ | 2 Indian LPG tankers reach ports, 2 more en route from Strait of HormuzAt the same time, allocation of LPG for commercial use, initially pared to shield households, has gone up to “70% of pre-crisis levels”, the ministry said. The total commercial share includes 20% allocation on priority to restaurants, hotels, industrial canteens and food processing as well as dairy units.Iran has all but shut the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation against strikes by the US and Israel, choking off global energy supplies and driving prices.India imports 90% of its crude, half of its liquefied natural gas and two-thirds of its LPG, most of which come from the Gulf countries via the strait. The country is the world’s second-largest LPG importer, consuming 33.15 million tonnes of the liquefied gas.A panel of ministers — the Informal Group of Ministers (IGoM), set up to monitor the West Asia situation and recommend proactive measures — monitoring supplies met “today to review the risks to energy supplies, domestic availability of essential commodities, critical infrastructure resilience and robustness of India’s supply chains”, the defence minister said in his X post.The meeting, chaired by Rajnath Singh, was attended by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri, power minister Manohar Lal, JP Nadda (chemicals and fertilisers), Prahlad Joshi (consumer affairs), K Ram Mohan Naidu (civil aviation), Kiren Rijiju (parliamentary affairs) and Jitendra Singh (science and technology). Seven empowered groups of secretaries made sectoral presentations to the IGoM. Singh directed the secretaries’ groups to adopt a “medium to long-term preparedness approach” and ensure swift decision-making.The government has imposed an export tax of ₹21.5 per litre on diesel and ₹29.5 per litre on aviation turbine fuel, a measure to trim shipments out of the country, the energy ministry said.The government has asked consumers not to resort to “panic buying”, which is taking place in some areas. Rumours have led to people piling up at some retail gas stations in a few states and this has only spiked sales, the statement said. All ministries and departments have been directed to share information, developments and advisories through the MIB WhatsApp Channel to counter rumours, misinformation and fake news.The coal ministry has ordered the state-run Coal India Ltd and Singareni Coallieries to allot higher quantities to states for distribution to small, medium and other consumers to ease demand pressures on gas, the ministry said. The fossil fuel dominates energy consumption of Asia’s third-largest economy, accounting for 55% of the total fuel demand.