India rolls back some LPG curbs, allots more gas to fertiliser plants

THe regime on wed raised gaseous state storage allocation for plant food plants to 95% of their requirements and permitted supply of commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to additional sectors, including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, paint, ceramic, foundry and glass, officials said, moves that came hours after the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.In a briefing, Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the petroleum ministry said natural gas supplies to fertilizer plants have been raised again from 90% to 95% of their requirement. This is the second increase in a week. The government on Monday raised gas allocation for the fertilizer sector from about 70% to 90%. Natural gas is both fuel and feedstock for fertilizer plants.Currently, gas is first supplied to meet 100% requirements of domestic consumers through piped natural gas (PNG) and automobiles through compressed natural gas (CNG).Centre on LPG supplySpeaking about the LPG supply, Sharma said the government on Wednesday issued an order allowing commercial LPG supplies to additional sectors such as agriculture, uranium, heavy water, pharmaceuticals, paint, ceramic, foundry and glass. The order proposes to meet 70% of their gas requirements before March “with overall sectoral limit of 200 tonnes per day,” she added.The government initially cut LPG supplies to commercial consumers in order to meet the requirements of 332 million domestic household customers.After ensuring supplies to domestic consumers, on March 12, the government allowed supplies of commercial LPG in a calibrated manner to hospitals and educational institutes, Sharma said. This has since progressively raised to 70% and covers restaurants, dhabas, hotels, canteens, community kitchens, and the steel, automobile, textile, chemicals and plastic sectors.The government has also doubled the supply of 5kg free trade LPG (FTL), sold mainly consumed by migrant labourers. That move came after the industry feared a potential mass exodus of migrant labourers due to the shortage of 5kg FTL in several industrial clusters. Sharma said supplies to FTL consumers have been augmented. Over 1,10,000 FTL cylinders were sold on Tuesday alone, she said. Since March 23, a total of 8,90,000 FTL cylinders have been sold, she added.Energy crisis amid US-Iran warAfter war broke out in West Asia on February 28, energy supplies were hit. Before the war, India imported 60% of its LPG requirements, and 90% of that came from the West Asia, predominantly Qatar.According to officials, the 15-day ceasefire may help in strengthening energy supply chains and calm raising fuel prices. Benchmark Brent crude prices, at $72.87 a barrel before the war in West Asia, soared to $119.5 by March 9, but fell sharply by 15.3% after news of the ceasefire to $92.55 a barrel (at 5.35 IST on Wednesday). India is the word’s third biggest consumer of crude oil after the US and China and imports over 88% of crude oil it processes.